Recently, the film industry has been very lively!
The Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony has just come to an end, and the Beijing Film Festival has opened with great grandeur.
is in the middle of this. The General Administration has updated the national film script project announcement in March 2024. A large number of new films are coming. Brother Fei has sorted out some popular films for everyone's reference in advance.
Xu Haofeng, the backlog king of martial arts movies, has his latest work "The Flying Man" approved.
His films "The Back of the Knife" and "The Treasure at the Door" were both screened at major film festivals, but could not be released to the public.
Yu Baimei, whose pen name is Wu Tao, has a project for his latest movie "Driving a Long Car", and the investor is Wu Jing's Dengfeng Pictures.
Yu Baimei's previous film "Running to the Two Heroes" was also produced by Dengfeng Pictures. It seems that Yu Baimei may have "broken up" with Deng Chao and switched to Wu Jing.
Screenwriter Qin Haiyan's new film "Who Can Fall in Love Without Sickness" has been approved.
Her representative works include " Thousand Miles Home " by Zhang Yi and " Assassination of Novelist " by Lei Jiayin and Yang Mi. Their reputation and box office are quite good.
Liu Weiqiang's "Kashmir Princess" project was approved.
is expected to start filming in Guangzhou in August and September, and the investor is Bona Pictures.
Wang Jing's "New Across the World" project was established.
The 1991 version of "Across the World" starred Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung and Chung Chu-hong.
I hope Wang Jing will not ruin the classics!
Liang Lemin's " Cold War " series has two projects, namely "Cold War 1994" and "Cold War 1995".
Aaron Kwok's "Chills 3" has completed production and has not yet been set.
Guan Hu's "A Man and a Woman" project was approved. The movie
should be filmed soon, starring Huang Bo and Ni Ni. It caused some accidents during the filming in Hong Kong last year.
The project of "Sha Po Lang 3" has been approved, and it will be directed by Liang Liyan, the screenwriter of the second film.
Brother Fei pays more attention to "Sha Po Lang 3" because action movies are my favorite.
1. The formation of the "Sha Po Lang" series IP.
There are currently three movies in this series, two regular ones and one extra.
In 2005, "Slaying the Wolf" directed by Wilson Yip was the first part of the series. The cast was Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung, as well as movie stars such as Simon Yam, Liu Qizhi and Wu Jing.
The film was released in Hong Kong and Macau, but has never been released in the mainland, with a box office revenue of HK$7.36 million.
During that period, in addition to the box office of theaters, the biggest income of Hong Kong movies was from the peripheral distribution of DVDs, including the discs we have seen before, which were all released by the producers.
The DVD release of "Slaying the Wolf" has already made a lot of money.
In 2015, Paul Cheng succeeded Yip Wilson in directing " Slay the Wolf 2". The iron triangle he invited was Wu Jing, Tony Jia and Zhang Jin, and finally made "suited thug" Zhang Jin famous all over the world. The production cost of the
film was 160 million, and the mainland box office hit was 559 million. Including peripherals, the net income was about 80 million.
Later, Wu Jing was busy working on " Wolf Warrior 2", and the orthodox sequel of the series was shelved.
In 2017, after Wilson Yip saw the success of "Slaying the Wolf 2", he invited Louis Koo to star in a spin-off " Killing the Wolf: Greedy Wolf ". This film won Louis Koo the Best Actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
is also very good at the box office, earning 522 million, which is almost the same as the second part.
Regardless of box office data or film quality, none of this series has collapsed. So, why not continue to develop it?
Thus, "Slaying the Wolf 3" came into being.
The plot summary is as follows:
Bodyguard Chen Jie was hired by an Eastern European international pharmaceutical factory to protect Xia Bing, the chief pharmaceutical research expert.
The two develop an ambiguous relationship as they get along day and night, but Xia Bing is abducted by Xiong San and threatens the pharmaceutical company with 200 million yuan as redemption.
Chen Jie vows to rescue Xia Bing, but is blocked by the mysterious pursuer Song Chengkang, who finally reveals the unknown scandal behind the pharmaceutical factory.
is currently confirmed to be directed by Zheng Baorui, the director of the second film. He just won the Academy Award for Best Director for "Homicide". He will have overall control and the quality will be guaranteed.
Douban also released a poster, which was probably made by Fan.
The most important point for the formation of a series of IPs is the commercial box office. Only when the film studio makes money can the series be continued. Such as Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" series, Donnie Yen's " Ip Man " series, Andy Lau's "The Bomb Disposal Expert" series, etc.
It is precisely because of the great success of the previous "Sha Po Lang" that the current "Sha Po Lang 3" project was established.
So, the question is, as a commercial action film, who can take on the important task?
2. Wu Jing, Donnie Yen, Zhang Jin, Xie Miao, who else?
Cheng Baorui took over this project and must be responsible for the investors. If "Slaying the Wolf 3" is to be a box office hit, he must select actors suitable for the roles.
Action movies are a little different from ordinary feature films. They need to be able to do some martial arts moves, have good acting skills, and most importantly, they have to be able to withstand the box office.
Looking around, there are only those mentioned in the title.
Wu Jing is the best candidate.
was the first male lead in "Slaying the Wolf 2" and participated in "Slaying the Wolf" as a supporting role. Logically speaking, "Slaying the Wolf 3" must be Wu Jing.
If Wu Jing comes to star in the third part of the series, it goes without saying that the box office will be great. His commercial film box office appeal is currently on par with Shen Teng, and there will be no doubt that the box office will hit 1.5 billion by then.
However, Wu Jing's work schedule has reached 2030, and a large number of key projects are waiting for him to shoot. If he has time to make "Slaying the Wolf 3", it is better to hurry up and make "Wolf Warrior 3".
In addition, the Wu Jing at this time is not the Wu Jing who was working on the set in Hong Kong ten years ago. "Wolf Warrior 2", "Changjin Lake" and "The Wandering Earth" have turned the actor Wu Jing into a capital Wu Jing.
has his own projects, and he must participate in investment. For example, last summer's commercial Hollywood movie "The Meg 2", Wu Jing joined the team with a salary. He wanted to gain global fame and earn a share of the global box office.
In other words, "Sha Po Lang 3" may not be able to afford Wu Jing, or Wu Jing may not like it at all.
Donnie Yen, the only one who can perform well and hold the box office, besides Wu Jing, is Donnie Yen.
Brother Fei believes that he has become the last stubborn figure in Hong Kong-style action movies. If Nicholas Tse cannot rise up and Donnie Yen is old, there will really be no successors for Hong Kong fashion action movies.
I'm not talking nonsense at all. Just look at this year's Academy Award for Best Actor, which was awarded to Tony Leung Chiu-wai. There is a complete lack of mid-level filmmakers in Hong Kong. Everyone knows that there is a shortage of films, especially in action films.
Last year, Donnie Yen took on three films from Wong Pak Ming Company in one go, namely "Misjudgement", "The Fuse 2" and "Ip Man 5", one with a legal theme and two action films.
In addition, Donnie Yen and Hollywood's "Kung Fu" and "Father" are also in development.
If Donnie Yen can find time, it would be safest for him to star in "Slaying the Wolf 3". Besides, he is the leading actor in the first film. As a series IP, Donnie Yen should be merciful. I dare not say 1.5 billion at the box office, 1 billion is easy.
Itâs time for Zhang Jin to rise.
As mentioned before, the most popular person in "Slaying the Wolf 2" is not Wu Jing, but the villain suit thug Zhang Jin, which also paved the way for him to take over the filming of " Ip Man Story: Zhang Tianzhi ".
If Donnie Yen is invited to star, I suggest Zhang Jin should be the villain. In a high-quality movie, in addition to the starring role, the golden rivalry is also indispensable.
For example, Zhang Songwen played opposite Zhang Yi in "The Drive"; Li Toyota played by Ning Li in "Undocumented Crime"; Nicholas Tse played opposite Donnie Yen in "The Case of the Furious". Each role can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Not to mention Zhang Jin. He has martial arts skills and looks both good and evil. It is most suitable for him to star in "Slaying the Wolf 3".
Xie Miaoâs journey to theaters has a long way to go.
This year, I thought Xie Miao was going to make a splash, but in the end, "Defiant 2" still didn't go to theaters. It's one thing to have a good reputation. It has to go to theaters and be tested by movie fans who spend money to watch the movie.
When will Xie Miao, who has been making online movies, be able to make a big splash?
Xie Miao played a supporting role in Andy Lau and Nicholas Tse Tse's latest movie "The Fury". This may be Xie Miao's only theatrical movie in many years. I also hope that this movie will be a box office hit and give Xie Miao more opportunities.
If Zheng Baorui's "Slaying the Wolf 3" casts Xie Miao to play a member of the Golden Triangle, there will be absolutely no problem. His acting skills will definitely be worthy of the important task.
Besides, they are all old, who will praise them if not Xie Miao?
3. Conclusion.
Actually, in addition to the four male stars I wrote above, there are also some actors to choose from.
For example, Louis Koo, Chou Zhaolong, Wu Yue, Tony Jaa, Shi Xingyu, An Zhijie, Sammo Hung, Nicholas Tse, Raymond Lam, etc. It is not impossible if Jet Li and Jackie Chan can be invited to make guest appearances.
You see, Peter Chan's " Jiangyuan Nong " has an all-star cast. Brother Phi gave this movie a nickname "Me and My Pickle Garden".
Zheng Baorui can actually become the second Peter Chan. If the budget is large enough, then use an all-star cast and invite all the actors who can play. I believe that "Slaying the Wolf 3" will be a box office explosion by then.
By the way, on May Day this year, Paul Cheng's "The Siege of Kowloon Walled City " will also be released to everyone. I hope Paul Cheng will make every Hong Kong movie well.
I'm waiting to watch "Sha Po Lang 3".
