Its Father Geek, back again along with Darius25, Scott Green, pigmon, AccSpy, and the rest of our Asian desk reporters to post our current Asia-AICN thursday column. Cool stuff galore for all you Asian cinephiles around the world. This week's report contain a ton of fun links to photos of your favorite Asian stars, including a group of sexy shots of the adoriable Zhang Ziyi, really nice pics...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, hope you all had a pleasant Easter weekend. This week we have a yet another packed column which includes news on director Ramgopal Verma's next film, "Pyar Ishq aur Mohabbat (Love, Love and Love)", "Para Para Sakura", director Johnnie To's new film, "Sen Nen No Koi", the new "Ultraman" movie, "Moosa", and Tell Me Something". And yes, we have some more of those really nice Zhang Ziyi pics. Now here's the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- The shooting of director Goldie Behl's "Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai (Just a little Dream) is nearing completion. The film's final schedule began last week and is scheduled to wrap up by tomorrow. Abhishek Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Sushmita Sen and Rani Mukherjee star in the film, which is scheduled to release this summer.

- Post-production work on director Rajeev Rai's long-awaited "Pyar, Ishq aur Mohabbat (Love, Love and Love)" is nearly complete. The film, which was mostly shot using the synch-sound technology, is just completing some little dubbing work at the studios. The reason for the dub is actress Kirti Reddy's accent, which wasn't authentic enough for her role. Sunil Shetty, Aaftab Shivdasani and Arjun Rampal star in the film.

- Star-secretary Rikku Rakesh Nath will make his directorial debut with "Friends", which will be produced by Ramesh Taurani. The film stars Karan Nath (Rikku's son), Tusshar Kapoor, and Kirti Reddy.

- Artist-Director M.F. Hussain has signed former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen for his next film, "Do Kadam Chal Ke Dekho (Take Two Steps)". Rahul Khanna is rumoured to have a role in the film.

- The shooting for director Ramgopal Verma's much-hyped "Company" began last week. The director most famous for "Satya" has once again turned to the Underworld as the plot for his new film, only this time the focus will be on the powerful dons instead of low-life hoodlums. This one will not be as gritty as "Satya" but expect a lot of violence nonetheless. Ajay Devgan and South Indian star Mohanlal have the leading roles, while Rinke Khanna, Antra Malli and Vicky Oberoi also star. It is interesting to note that all of Mohanlal's dialogue will be in English only.

- Last week's new release was "Jodi No.1 (Duo No.1)", the latest comedy flick with director David Dhawan and actor Govinda. Sanjay Dutt also joins the pair along with Twinkle Khanna, Monica Bedi, Anupam Kher and Shakti Kapoor. This film's just a typical Dhawan no-brainer involving a set of (pretty hilarious) situations revolving around the main heroes. The plot isn't much - Govinda and Sanjay are two cons on the lam from a gangster. While leaving Bombay, they accidentally run into a foreign visitor on his way to meet an industrialist (Anupam Kher) in Goa. Sanjay gets the visitor arrested and decides to impersonate him while making Govinda his secretary. They plan on robbing the industrialist but eventually end up solving his problems, fighting the gangsters on their trail and get the two girls at the end. The comedy is right on target, especially from Govinda. Everything he does in this film is just damn funny - from his weird accents (I counted over 5 different ones) to his ridiculous clothing. Sanjay's allright too - comedy isn't his specialty, but he provides good support for Govinda's crazy antics and is pretty funny in a couple of scenes. The rest of the cast is decent, nothing Oscar-worthy, but everyone manages to get a laugh or two. The directing is decent for a comedy - the pacing is quite fast and the songs don't distract. This is definitely not the best Dhawan flick ever, but it manages to get the job done. Finally, here's a film that is actually worth seeing in theatres (for comedy fans at least).

Here's a still of Govinda and Sanjay Dutt (with Shakti Kapoor in the middle):Click Here Now

To see another still of the comedic duo (this time singing about eggs!!), click here: To See It

And here's a pic from an action scene (or so it seems): See it Here

CHINA / HK

Here's is the weekly report from AccSpy:

- Aaron Kwok and the insanely busy Cecilia Cheung are now filming Golden Harvest's romantic musical "Para Para Sakura". Directed by Jingle Ma ("Goodbye Mr Cool", Tokyo Raiders"), the film is expected to open in HK this July, facing off against Andy Lau's "You & I(Fulltime Hitman)" and "Pearl Harbor". Here's some on-set photos:

Aaron Kwok and Cecilia Cheung, team up for the first time: Click Right Here

Aaron, Cecilia and the Japanese dancers, performing the so-called "Para Para Dance":Click Now

Here's one more pic of Cecilia: Just Click

- After finishing "You & I" and before starting on "Running out of Time 2", director Johnnie To and his partner Wai Kar-fai will co-direct a comedy which teams up their "Needing You..." stars Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng. The film will hire top Hollywood make-up artists to transform both stars to over really obese people who are struggling to find love. The movie's title is loosely translated as "You will Find Love When You're Slim".

- Miramax Studios have bought the US distribution rights of Tsui hark's CGI-heavy saga, "The Legend of Zu", and Sammo Hung's "Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger"(I cannot believe they really using this name! People will think this is either a parody of CTHD or a second-rate copycat of CTHD when in fact it's a serious martial arts film). The latter film will be premiering at Cannes where Sammo, and his co-stars Cheng Pei-pei, Fan Siu-wong, and Jade Leung, will perform martial arts during the "Nights of HK" function.

- This is just a reminder that Jackie Chan's "The Accidental Spy", Tsui Hark's "Time & Tide", Daniel Wu's "Hit Team", "Feel 100% II", and "Martial Angels" are all out on DVD and VCD. The latter film should be avoided at all costs while "Hit Team" is highly recommended. (You should all see Time and Tide as well - it kicks MAJOR ass!! - D25)

- Just like in North America, four new films debuted over the Easter weekend yet failed to take over a family film's no.1 position. Tsui Hark's "Master Q 2001" topped the HKBO chart for the second week in a row and has already earned over $12 million HKD so far. The film claims to bethe first Chinese 3-D movie and includes over 1000 CGI shots - 300 shots more than "Episode I". Leon Lai and Cecilia Cheung's "Everyday is Valentine" entered at no.2, collecting an estimated $4 million during the 4-day weekend while Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove" debuted at no.3 with $3.5 million. Ekin Cheng lost another battle after "For Bad Boys Only" , when "Goodbye Mr Cool" entered at no.4 with just a little over $2 million in 4 days, edging out Japanese animation "Digimon" at no.5 with $1.7 million. "15 minutes" had a reasonable fall to no.6 while Jennifer Lopez's "The Wedding Planner" debuted poorly at no.7. Two critically-acclaimed films, "Traffic" and "Billy Elliot", stood at no.8 and 9, respectively. Both films have collected an impressive $5 millions grossing so far.

- This one's for all of you Zhang Ziyi fans (special thanks to Zhang Ziyi Forever - http://geocities.com/ziyiforever/):

Here'an extremely HOT pic of Ziyi on the cover of an Asian magazine: Click To See

Here's a much better pic: Go Here

Even better pic: Click Here

This one might give you all a heart attack: Just Click

JAPAN

Here is Pigmon's latest report:

- Kinji Fukasaku(director of "Battle Royal")'s next project is a game! He will direct "Clock Tower 3", a popular horror game by Capcom for the Playstation (1 or 2?). This is Fukasaku's first venture as a game director. Right now, he is looking for a leading actress for motion capturing purposes. The total budget is much higher than "Battle Royal", which only cost about 4 million dollars.

- A popular Japanese actess, Ayako Fujitani (of Gamera series fame and one of Steven Seagal's daughters) has been cast for a French movie titled "Sansara". Principal photography has already started and it will mainly be filmed in Paris, and other various European locales including Lisbon and Madrid.

- Toei has announced "Sen Nen No Koi" for a December release. The all female-period film is expected to be big hit in next winter. Sayuri Yoshinaga, Keiko Takeshita and Seiko Matsuda star in the film, which will be feature the directorial debut of Tonko Hirokawa, a popular TV director.

- This is the 35th year anniversary for the "Ultraman" series and a new film version is set to release in July. Shochiku (a production company) showed me some footage last week and to tell the truth, I found it to be really bad. The VFX looked like it was done by high school students and the plot wasn't great either. Some of the new changes in this version included Ultraman having the ability to fight without a time limit on Earth (he could only be exposed to 3 minutes of sunlight in previous incarnations) and the plot involves his attempt to stop the Valtan aliens from immigrating to Earth. The opening sequence was rather boring and the only big payoff came during a space battle between Ultraman and the Valtans. I told the executives at Shochiku to reedit some sequences (I hope the whole movie!) in order to sell it to the US market, but don't expect this to pop up here anytime soon.

- Here is the latest box office report from Japan: 1.Hannibal 2.Battle Royal -Special Edition 3.Cast Away 4. 102 Dalmatians 5.Doramemon - Nobita To Tsubasa No Yusha Tachi 6.The Cell 7.Snatch 8.Meet The Parents 9.Satorare 10.Proof of Life

KOREA

18nom is back with lots of info for fans of Korean cinema. Here he is:

Hi, folks! I am back after a two-week hiatus, with vengeance and a bunch of news regarding Korean cinema.

First off, "Memory Island" has been causing quite a stir in a domestic box office. This film, helmed by Kwok Kyungtek, has become the fastest film to bring in 1 million theater goers to Seoul. Nationwide, "Memory Island" has brought in more than 3 million after its debut two weeks ago. Film critics and producers in Choong-moo-ro are debating as to whether this film could take the place of "Joint Security Area" as the box office king. From what I have read in reviews and posts, "Memory Island" is a Korean version of "Goodfellas" with heavy Pusan, second largetst city in South Korea, flavor. Unlike "Shiri" or "JSA", this film does not carry any political or controversial issues/influences, thus limiting its long-term boxoffice clouts. BTW, the film stars Yoo Ohsung (Beat, Spy Lee Chuljin) and Jang Donggun (Nowhere to Hide) and unconfirmed report indicates that the distribution rights have been sold to Japan for two million dollars, making "Memory Island" the biggest and most expensive Korean film export.

Park Joonghoon, the star of "Nowhere to Hide" and upcoming Jonathan Demme's "Truth about Charlie", has wrapped his latest Korean film before heading to France to costar with Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton. The film is called "Say Yes" and it is rumored to be a thriller involving cunning psychopath, Park, and a honeymoon couple who become unwilling victims. This flick is a third thriller from director Kim Sunghong and stars Choo Sangmi (Soul Guardians) and multi-talented Park. Incidentally, Park had a private foursome reading a couple of weeks ago in Paris with Demme, Wahlberg and Newton. I am personally looking forward to this one by Demme. His last film, "Beloved", was an underrated film with great performances from Newton, Glover and Winfrey. Wondering about the casting of Park Joonghoon in "Truth about Charlie"? It is rumored that Demme, after seeing "Nowhere to Hide" at Sundance, handpicked and rewrote the role with Park in mind for "Truth about Charlie". One interesting clause in Park's contract is that he is forbidden to travel to Korea during the filming even if his shooting schedule is freed up.

"Barking Dog Never Bites" has won the International Critics Prize at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Director Bong Joonho is said to start his second film soon and it will be another black comedy with social commentaries. I highly recommend this film to anyone who has owned a dog and lost it. And don't forget to visit By Clicking Here to get a glimpse of a typical animal's life in Korea.

"Moosa".

Director Kim Sungsoo's highly anticipated film will be opening (and roaring) in July. Kim has just wrapped the post-production in Australia and is getting ready to promote and sell the distribution rights in Cannes 2001. Kim has asked a music composer/director Sagis Siro(?) of "Evangelion" to take over the music duties on the film. I am not quite sure if this is correct decision via Kim since asking Japanese to score Korean action picture is like asking David Byrne to score "The Last Emperor". And we all know how that film turned out, no? Can anyone imagine anyone else scoring "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" besides Tan Dun? We shall see how it turns out. And yes, Zhang Ziyi costars along with Jung Woosung (Beat, There is no Sun), Ahn Sungki (Nowhere to Hide, Mandala) and Joo Jinmo (The Happy End). Due to presence of now-famous Zhang Ziyi, the price tag for the distribution rights has been upped a bit. I hear the current asking price is a cool ten mil for US distribution rights. Miramax and Sony Classic are thought to be two front runners. More news on "Moosa/Warrior" in coming weeks.

"Tell Me Something".

Kino International has picked up the US distribution rights for the '99 serial-killer thriller by Jang Yoonhyun. The sophomore effort by Jang will be opening in select cities in USA in September. This moody thriller caused a controversy in Korea due to its gore content and murky ending. I personally thought the ending was handled extremely well. The film stars the undisputed boxoffice king Han Seokkyu (Shiri, Christmas in August, No.3) and Shim Eunha (Christmas in August). After seeing this film, you won't be able to look at the black plastic bag the same way again. BTW, "TMS" opened in HongKong and Japan with a reasonable boxoffice successes.

CIFF 2001.

The 2nd Chunju International Film Festival will be held from April 27th to May 3rd. Although not as big or well-managed as PIFF(Pusan International Film Festival), CIFF is going strong after hush-hush departures of two lead critics/managers. Three main programs are the highlights of CIFF 2001 and they are "Cinemascape" section, "Nvision", and "Asia Indy Forum". Also, there will be a retrospective of Rainer Fassbinder's films. Festival Honcho Choi Min states that he will add a new section next year which will consist only of digitally-shot films.

18nom will be back next week with more news from Korea. Till then, Annyung!

ANIME

From the amazingly animated laptop of Scott Green comes...

Official Metropolis Site An official site for the upcoming Japanese release of Metropolis, by by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), and based on the manga of Osamu Tezuka(Astro Boy) has opened at www.metropolis-movie.com/ The flash based site is in Japanese, but its very visual nature conveys a great deal of information about the movie. It provide character, story and production information, as well as two trailers, and a great deal of images.

Otomo Returns to Manga

Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of the Akira Manga Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of the classic Akira manga (comic) is returning to manga after a five year absenceThe first installment of the new Otomo story, Orbital Era, appears in Shuiesha's monthly Ultra Jump magazine. Otomo's previous major works like Akira have all been published by Kodansha, which has a close relationship with Dark Horse Comics in the U.S. Shuiesha is allied with Shogakukan, the parent company of U.S. manga and anime publisher Viz. Another classic manga creator, Nagano Mamoru, has brought his classic Five Star Stories back. Look for installments starting with the May issue of Newtype Magazine.

AnimEigo News

A representative from AnimEigo has indicated on Anime on DVD that the classic romantic comedy Oh! My Goddess had had its video remastered and they're working on adding some "fun(ky)" DVD features on it. The 5 episode series will be released on two discs (1-3 on one and 4-5, which are longer on the second) since AnimEigo can do more regular quality control checks with single layer discs. Oh! My Goddess is a college student who misdials a restaurant number and gets the Goddess Help Line. When a goddess appears to grant his wishes, the student wishes that she will be his girlfriend. They are soon joined by the goddess' scheming older sister, and possessive/mechanically inclined younger sister. According to Right Stuf, AnimEigo's January release of Spirit of Wonder is now out of print due to the license running out.

They also repriced the following VHS volumes: BAOH (dub) $ 9.95 ADPolice Files Complete 3 Ep. (dub) 19.95. (sub)19.95 Genesis Survivor Complete Gaiarth (dub) 14.95 (sub14.95 Bubblegum Crash Total Crash Collection (sub) 19.95 (dub) 19.95 Kimagure Orange Road TV (volumes 1-12) (sub) 24.95 BAOH, ADPolice, Genesis Survivor Gaiarth, and Bubblegum Crash are science fiction series.

Bubblegum Crash is a sequel/retelling of the Blade Runner-esque Bubblegum Crisis series about a group of women with power suits battling cooperate androids known as boomers. AD Police is a darker anthology about the police who are assigned to protect citizens from the boomers. Kimagure Orangle Road is about a love triangle between a boy with ESP, who has fallen in love with a mysterious girl, who in turn is loved by a suit childhood friend. The ESP aspect of the story is handled very well, with attention paid to the implications of a boy with physic powers in the Japanese culture. The comedy is considered a classic by many fans.

Golgo 13: Queen Bee DVD on sale

Urban Visions has released Golgo 13: Queen Bee on DVD. "The Professional is back in action, this time on DVD! Golgo 13, the world's most notorious assassin, is a real lady-killer. in more ways than one! Golgo's current assignment is to terminate Queen Bee, the leader of a South American liberation army. The contract gets complicated when Golgo penetrates the hive and discovers that there is more to this assassination plot than meets the eye. Golgo 13 decides that he must step aside as a quest for revenge climaxes to a violently tragic end that will blow you away!" Special features include audio remastered in 5.1 for both English and Japanese Language Tracks, Audio Commentary by the Japanese Director and Executive Producer and UV Trailers.

New Detective Conan Movie

The 5th Detective Conan Movie, "Countdown To Heaven" is complete and recently screened at press preview event in Tokyo on April 9. Staff, Conan's manga artist and cast were on hand and reportedly many young children fans of the show were in attendance with parents as well. The theme song for movie #5 is "always" by KURAKI Mai. The single release date is set for May 5th. Conan 5 opens nationwide in Japan in Toho affiliates April 21st. Dective Conan is about a famous teenage detective who is reduced to childhood by an adversary.

Viz to release Ceres

Viz Communications has announced long awaited release of Ceres, Celestial Legend 1: Destiny on VHS / DVD on 7/24/01. Ceres, Celestial Legend, also know as series Ayashi no Ceres, is the latest series based on the manga of Yuu Wataste of Fushigi Yuugi fame. The series is an update on a Japanese legend about a fisherman who captures Cere, an angel, and forces her to be his wife and bear his children. The series is about Aya Mikage, the descendant of the fisherman and angel who is destined to be the Ceres' instrament of revenge on the family. Japanese voice actors working on the series include Iwao Junko as Ceres (Tomoyo of Card Captor Sakura, Key of Key the Metal Idol, Mima of Perfect Blue, Tomoe of the Kenshin OAV, and Mayuka of the second Tenchi Muyo movie), and Araki Kae (Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi, Minnie May of Gunsmith Cats) in a supporting role). The series is compared favorably to Fushigi Yuugi, especially due to a heroine who is not as clueless for the sake of the plot! as the protagonist of Fuhsigi Yuugi.

The dubbed VHS will retail for $24.95 and the bilingual DVD will retail for $29.95. The 24 episode on 8 volumes of three episodes. The 52 episode Fushigi Yuugi television series, marketing as Mysterious Play for the dub, has been released by Pioneer on VHS, and two DVD box sets. The OAV DVD boxset is forthcoming. Like Ceres, Celestial Legend, Fushigi Yuugi is based on mythology. Miaka, a headstrong, and gluttonous girl is transported to a mystical version of ancient China where she becomes the maiden of Suzaku, one of four gods. In order to summon Suzaku to get home she must locate seven individuals presenting constellations. The series mixes fantasy elements with romance and drama, will some action. It is also a female take on the Tenchi Muyo/El Hazard citation of a protagonist surrounded by members of the odd members of opposite sex romantically interested in them.

Evangelion Movie Date

According to Right Stuf Manga will be releasing the two Evangelion movies Death and Rebirth, and The Evangelion Movie (also known as End of Evangelion) on dubbed vhs, subtitled VHS, and DVD on 10/31/01. Death and Rebirth is a summation of the first 24 episodes of Evangelion with new footage for transitions, and an alternate episode 25. The Evangelion Movie, as it will be known in the Manga release, features the alternate episode 25 from Death and Rebirth, and a new alternate episode 26. In related news, David Williams of ADV has stated that the eight and final volume of the DVD release of Neon Genesis Evangelion will be released on or before 6/26/01.

Manga Blood Trailer

Manga has posted a trailer of their upcoming released of Blood at Their Site Blood is an action movie about a seemingly normal Japanese school girl hunting vampire like creature on a US military base,

Parappa Rapper Site

Parappa The Rapper will be airing on on Fuji TV every Saturday evening starting April 14, 2001. The official site has opened at This Location According to the site, the series' staff will be

o Original Concept: Rodney Alan Greenblat

o Director: Hiroaki Sakurai

o Character Designs by: Rodney Alan Greenblat

o Animation Character Designs by: Takayuki Goto

o Art Director: Hiromasa Ogura

o Music: Masaya Matsuura

o Production House: JC Staff, in cooperation with Production I.G Guster: Rei Naitoh

o Produced by: Fuji TV/SME Visual Works

· Cast:

o Masaya Matsuura Parappa: Jiyu Irino

o PJ: Masami Kikuchi (Keiichi from Ah! My Goddess, Tenchi from Tenchi Muyo)

o Matt: Kenichi Suzuki

o Katy: Rina Nakayama

o Paula: Akiko Kobayashi

o Sunny: Mika Kanai

o Groover: Akio Toyama

Akira Screenings

Akira will conitnue to play in 35mm at the New York Empire AMC. Showtimes are 7:30pm and 10:15pm. It will be opening in LA and San Francisco soon.

Darius 25 back to say goodbye. 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