More news than you can shake a stick at, part 2

Trying to catch up with news that I missed, this entry will probably be pretty long, with the related links added in later.

- Hong Kong Thursday numbers are out, and Ghost Rider leads on its opening day with HK$560,000 on 34 screens. The Queen takes second place with just $140,000 on 14 screens (it should still have a fairly strong weekend, though definitely a drop from last weekend), the second highest opener is the "comedy" The Lady Iron Chef (which doesn't even have a website) with a pathetic HK$70,000 on 26 screens. With the same gross on only 9 screens is the Japanese film "Nada Sou Sou" (or Tears For You, based on the hit Japanese pop song), and Ann Hui's The Postmodern Life of My Aunt, co-starring Chow Yun Fat, takes in a sadder HK$40,000 on 5 screens. The weekend looks to be fairly weak, as none of those failing opening films have enough screens or attraction to really get ahead of those top films. Next week, Dororo and 300 will be released.

- I was happy when MTV started the MTV Chi network, although I had no idea how they were going to pull it off (I would've done a MTV East Asia to combine Korean, Japanese, and Chinese pop together, but that's just me). And I never found out how they made it work because they never managed to put it on cable in San Francisco, and now it's shutting down for good. Like the AZN TV network, MTV has announced that it will shut down operations of the MTV World Division (this does not include its subsidiaries in other parts of the world) at an yet-to-be-determined time.

I say their biggest mistake was that they couldn't roll it out to large Asian-American communities and college campuses, so people who actually wanted to watch it couldn't. Of course, I don't work in cable, but even if they couldn't get that type of plan ready before they started, then they failed before they even started operations.

- Here's a smart move: Instead of just censoring or simply outright banning a movie in China, why not use a ratings system? The idea has been out for years, but apparently it's again on the agenda at the National People's Congress.

- Johnnie To's new film, previously named The Flying Butterfly and now named Linger, has finished shooting. The romantic drama, starring Li Bingbing and Vic Zhao (of the Taiwanese version of the flower boys) may debut in Cannes too.

- If anyone can read Chinese, Zha Jiangke, off the success of his latest Still Life, has asked Maggie Cheung to play a flight attendant in his new film, about 1949 Hong Kong.

- Official details are finally out for the next crappy Chinese Japanese comic adaptation (the last one being Initial D), and it also stars Jay Chou! This time it's the Taiwanese film Slam Dunk, based on the basketball comic of the same name and was once an Ekin Cheng vehicle in the 1990s. It'll be directed by Kevin Ping and set for release for Chinese new year 2008. It will also star Charlene Choi (half of the Twins, but just as annoying) with Ching Siu Tung on action choreography (Last i checked, this was a basketball movie, right?).

- Earlier reports have said that Andrew Lau (who CO-directed Infernal Affairs) was removed from directing duties on his Hollywood debut The Flock. He has come out and cleared up the rumor, but only in Chinese, I'm afraid. Anyway, he said he was only given the right to do two different cuts, and if the producers weren't satisfactory, they can recut it again, and that's what happening to The Flock. Lau emphasized that there's no reshooting happening and now it's simply another recutting of the film because the producers wanted more sex and violence in the film. He still has the final right to approve the film. He also complained about having to deal with producers in Hollywood (who's probably telling him to stop using those stupid flash pans), and said he's now good friends with Richard Gere. Maybe Richard can get Lau one of those apartments he sells in Japan.

- I haven't seen much Japanese Pink films (If I'm not mistaken, it's basically quality softcore porn that's actually like a real movie), but the States will be getting one. It features George Bush, a girl getting shot then turning into a genius, and something about North Korea. Wow.

That movie is The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai, and it sounds like a blast.

That's it for today, more tomorrow.