HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!!! Valentines Day Too!!! Father Geek here with AccSpy in Hong Kong and Darius25 with all the Bollywood news wishing you the best on whatever Holiday you may be celebrating today. As usual on Thursdays we have our Asia-AICN Column to keep you company and inform you of some of the latest news out of the East. But before we get to their report here's some info that came directly to the Geek Headquarters Compound here in Austin, Texas...
Just thought i'd let you know that Toshihiro Kawamoto & Ken Akamatsu will be attending the Anime Central 2002 convention in Chicago, April 19th-21st.
Toshihiro Kawamoto Toshihiro Kawamoto will be best known to US anime fans for his character designs on "Cowboy Bebop" and "Golden Boy." However, he also worked as animation supervisor for the animation for the "Ghost in the Shell" Playstation Game opening, and as the character designer on "Gundam 0083," and "08th MS Team," as well as animator on numerous other animations. This is Mr. Kawamoto's first appearance at Anime Central.
Ken Akamatsu Ken Akamatsu is best known to anime and manga fans as the creator and manga artist of "Love Hina." The manga which was published in Kodansha's weekly comic magazine, "Weekly Shounen Magajin," has 14 volumes and was made into avery popular anime series. His other major work is the manga series, "AI ga Tomaranai" ('Can't stop the LOVE'). He has also recently put out a special edition of his Love Hina comic, entitled "IroHina" ('SexyHina'). This is his first appearance at a North American Anime Convention.
More info on Anime Central can be found at Their Website by just clicking here
Gavigan
Ol' Father Geek back just long enough to say: "Here's the regular report...
Asia-AICN
By Darius25, with AccSpy...
Happy Chinese New Year everybody!! I hope you’re enjoying the holidays by eating lots of great food, receiving plenty of cash, and spending some of it on some fabulous movies. We have a decently-packed column for you this week, with info on direct Aditya Chopra’s next film, Sunny Deol’s “Shaheed (The Martyr)”, director Vikram Bhatt’s upcoming films, the Hollywood remake of “The Chinese Connection (aka Fists of Fury)”, “The Touch”, “The Highbinders”, and the “Fat Choi Spirit”. Now here’s the latest from Asia.
INDIA
- First of all, a big congratulations goes out to the Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker for their film, Lagaan, being nominated for the Best Foreign Film award at this year’s Oscars. Here’s hoping Bollywood gets more international recognition in the future!!
- Director Aditya Chopra has announced the title of his next film – “Na Jaane Kaise Pyar Ho Gaya (How did this Love Happen?)”. The casting is not yet complete, but the director has signed on Shahrukh Khan and Kajol in the leading roles. The film is tentatively set for a Diwali 2003 release.
- Preity Zinta has been signed in one of the leading roles for writer Honey Irani’s directorial debut. The cast is also set to include Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu and the director is looking for one more actor. Filming will begin in May.
- Some more casting news has appeared regarding Sunny Deol’s “Shaheed (The Martyr)” film. The actor-producer is in talks with actress Amrita Singh for a pivotal role, while actor Rahul Dev has been cast as freedom fighter Sukhdev. The film, directed by Guddu Dhanoa, will star Bobby Deol as Bhagat Singh, with Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt in supporting roles. It is due out at the end of this year.
- Hot off the success of “Raaz (Mystery)”, director Vikram Bhatt has signed a number of upcoming projects. The main one announced so far is “Aitbaar” with Amitabh Bachchan, Bipasha Bashu and model John Abraham in the lead. Bhatt will follow this one with a project to be produced by Mukesh Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt, and starring Anil Kapoor and Bipasha Basu in the leading roles. Finally, he also has a film called “Raftaar (Speed)”, to be produced by Firoz A. Nadiadwala.
- Meanwhile, Vikram Bhatt’s next film, the Hrithik Roshan-Amisha Patel starrer “Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage (I Have Started to Like You)” has been post-poned by a couple of weeks due to a shortage of theatres in Bombay. Apparently, there are too many high-profile movies coming out in March and as a result the producers couldn’t bag the biggest theatres for this HUGE film. Nonetheless, a deal has been worked out and the film will be coming out on April 12 now, one week after the release of “Aakhen (Eyes)” with Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar.
CHINA / HK
Here’s the latest report from “AccSpy”:
- Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jay Chou is in final negotiations to star in the Hollywood remake of Bruce Lee's kung fu classic "The Chinese Connection (Fists of Fury)". The 24 year-old is the biggest break-though star in recent Asian music showbiz and this will be his acting debut. Talk about a HUGE start! Here's some photo of the future Chen Zhen:
The first pic: Click Now
The second pic: Go Right Here
And a third pic: Click
- Michelle Yeoh's dream project "The Touch" now has its official site and the film will be released in Asia this summer. The site now has a plot synopsis and an ok trailer, but will soon feature various behind-the-scenes documentaries. Here's the link: http://thetouchmovie.com
- Jackie Chan and his crew are still filming "The Highbinders" in Thailand during the Lunar New Year. An ancient castle set is built in the studio there for the big finale. Meanwhile the official site of the film is also up, though there still isn’t much to see: http://highbinders.emg.com.hk/
And here's an on-set pic of Jackie Chan and a slimmer Sammo Hung, who is
the action director of the film: Just Click Here To See
- Director Wilson Yip ("2002") is currently filming a drama for Mardrain
Pictures, with Louis Koo and Mariam Yeung in the leading roles.
- It's Chinese "Lunar" New Year again and again proves to be the busiest period, box-office-wise, as people have nothing to do beside playing Mahjong and going to the theatre. Nine new films entered the top 10 of HKBO last weekend, with the best opening going to Sammi Cheng's "Marry a Rich Man". Vincent Kuk's first directorial film in three years collected $4.6 mil in the 4-days-period, which proved the high salary of Sammi is still worth every dime. "Ocean's 11" debuted second with $3.39 mil HKD, "Monsters Inc.", which opened on Saturday, grossed an impressive $2.9 mil in just two days. Andy Lau led an ensemble cast in the mahjong comedy "Fat Choi Spirit" which debuted at no.4 with $2.15 mil, while Tony Leung and Faye Wong's period comedy "Chinese Odyssey 2002" debuted at sixth with $1.68 mil. Last week's champion "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" understandably slipped to no.6, while two Japanese animes, "Digimon 02" and "Doraemon: Nobita's Adventure" entered at no.7 and no.8, respectively. The gross of Lunar New Year movies usually increases in the second week, which makes it interesting to see if "Fat Choi Spirit" or "Chinese Odyssey 2002" could take a big leap next week.
We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@home.com. See you all next week.
Darius25
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