Tag: Chinese

The Top Three Animated Films Playing During Chinese New Year, and White Snake Rebirth for this Summer!

What fans of Donghua animation can expect for this year are a bunch of great animated films, but our interest is with White Snake 3 than the others being offered.

White Snake Rebirth Teaser PosterWhether Light Chaser Animation Studios intentionally did not want to debut White Snake Rebirth during Chinese New Year or needed no more time, the good news is that it’s expected to be released Summer 2024! Not everyone will be aware of this film, and this release isn’t being all that well advertised right now.

That’s because not every city got to screen this studio’s last work, Chang’an: A Journey of Thirty Thousand Miles, to reveal this fact. This film had a very limited theatrical run, what’s presented is very much a blink, and you’ll miss it moment. Those people fortunate to see this movie will have seen the teaser. Even afterwards, there isn’t much talk about it on the forums and few animation news websites that I track.

For now, the films that are seeing love in China’s box office includes Boonie Bears: Time Twist, Ba Jie (a film I hope will get some America-side attention due to its theme of how to enter Buddhist heaven), and Huang Pi: God of Wealth Cat. The latter sounds interesting since it concerns a cat who gives out money! As for which new movie is making waves, Variety announced news that Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to distribute the sports live action comedy Yolo for international release.

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With Paper Ghost Stories: Third Eye Open There’s No Need to Be Afraid of the Dark (Again)

After Paper Ghost Stories 7PM, what’s next in this franchise is titled Third Eye Open. Just what will you see here?

Paper Ghost Stories Third Eye OpenA new chapter of Cellar Vault Game’s Paper Ghost Stories is here. Titled, Third Eye Open, this latest instalment is guaranteed to chill, and perhaps even cause some gamers to sleep with the lights on. This demo is available on Steam (PC), and will be released to all platforms by Summer 2024.

This award-winning anthology of creepy tales inspired by Malaysian and Chinese myths and culture will unravel even further as gamers take on new challenges. I’ve played the first game (review link) and still have the shivers, thinking back at what I couldn’t accomplish. There were some harrowing moments. And for the latest, there may even be a “Hungry Ghost” component when considering the season.

Paper Ghost Stories Trailer

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Instead of A, “The Storm” is Coming From China, and this Animated Marvel Looks Ready to Amaze!

Fans of #donghua will want to check local listings to see if The Storm will be blowing through. It’s easy to miss since it’s not looking like a GKIDS release. This third work directed by Busifan (Zhigang Yang) is worth chasing down!

The Storm (2024) Chinese Movie PosterTrouble is coming in the aptly titled Chinese film, “The Storm,” (大雨) which may well be a metaphor for the chaos that’s enveloping the nation. And for everyone to know their place in it, not only must Daguzi understand what’s befallen upon him, but also somehow protect Mantou. This child looks like he can take care of himself, but honestly, he just wants his father back!

After the two visit a mysterious ship floating in Great Dragon Bay in search for treasure, a curse falls upon him and as for whether he can regain his mortality makes up part of this film’s plot. In the trailer, it’s teased that destiny cannot be changed. Whether that alludes to him or something else, it’s tough to say. Perhaps the reason why he was bitten is a form of punishment like Monkey King’s. This character also makes an appearance.

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Three Chinese Films to be on the Lookout For! (And The Fantastic Umbrella Girl Too)

Quite often, Chinese New Year is when new films will be played to audiences worldwide, and what’s offered here are four selections we hope will begin production or play in 2024!

The Journey of Flower 2024 Movie Poster - Three Chinese Films to Look Out For in 2024Although Chinese New Year is two months away, the question of what movies will get released is likely to at least include The Journey of Flower. The other three Chinese films include Chang’An, Kung Fu Hustle 2 and Umbrella Girl.  While one is technically not even started production, I have hope that some news will be offered. As for the the former getting a wider distribution, it’d make sense to re-release this work during this holiday!

Chang’An was released in China over the Summer. As for why international distributors didn’t want to market it, the reason may well lie in the fact it’s not like a typical movie. Those who managed to see this work said it’s presented as vignettes with the characters reciting poetry. As for whether its like attending one of Shakespeare’s plays, I need to get my hands on a copy!

Even though Light Chaser Animation has been on a huge winning streak ever since White Snake, not every film gets the love it deserves. Tea Pets got tucked away on Tubi under a different title (Toys and Pets), and it’s a wonderful love story cum adventure. As for this studio’s latest, it apparently got a weekend screening at select cities during the month of October; I assume GKIDS holds the rights, and they will eventually deliver this movie to home video.

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Before His Legacy is World-Renowned, Young Ip Man Has Lots to Learn!

Although Wenhao doesn’t have the practical skills to demonstrate he’s Young Ip Man, what’s presented is still a good ol’ fashioned martial arts story.

Young Ip Man on Home VideoWell GO USA
Available to stream on Hi-Yah Network and on home video (Amazon link)

After Donnie Yen‘s stint as an older Ip Man, Zhao Wenhao is Young Ip Man (少年叶问之危机时刻)–which is also the title of the movie. Just where this work fits into the rest of this franchise is a mystery. When different studios are involved and there’s no united vision, the presentation can sometimes not be just as fantastic as the original trilogy. The stories are no doubt fictional filler material rather than historical, and that’s okay. Here, the home video release doesn’t offer any bonus features that can explore any possible documented facts. But for those who want to compare the subtitles to the actual presentation than the dub, the option is available!

Here, we’re dealing with a young man who’s not at his prime, and he’s seeing all kinds of corruption during his time in Hong Kong. The year is 1917, and all is not well. A lot of government officials are turning a blind eye to it. When Ma Long (Mu Fengbin), a gangster, can easily infiltrate a school and holds the students up for ransom, it’s up to this youth to set matters straight!

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New Gods Yang Jian Ushers In Chinese New Year

New Gods Yang Jian not only ups the ante in what Light Chaser Animation can do with the animation medium but also update a traditional tale to the science fiction medium.

New Gods Yang JianGKIDS
Playing at Select Theatres Beginning Jan 20
Coming to Digital on April 11 and Home Video April 25th, 2023.

Light Chaser Animation‘s New Gods cinematic universe has another hero, and his name is Yang Jian (voiced by Wang Kai). He’s also known as Erlang Shen, a god with a truth-seeing eye, but in this film it has even greater power which can’t be defined.

Thankfully, no prior knowledge of who he is or the prior film are needed (Nezha Reborn) is on Netflix and my review can be read here), but it’ll help explain the surprise bits found in this tale. In this second film to this franchise, titled New Gods Yang Jian, he gave up his godhood to become a mortal, a bounty hunter, and for much of the tale, he has no regrets over this decision.

Despite everything we know about how the Divine World fell apart, nobody in this new utopia is truly at peace. The introduction talks about an averted civil war, but all is not well. In Penglai, a futuristic neo-feudal tech city located upon a mountaintop, the people live in relative peace. But this home of the gods may well become a target should a boy assemble the pieces of a destructive lamp. The beauty this location represents is just one of many places this film visits. The look of Ancient China juxtaposed with the industrial age looks wonderful. When the adventure moves to the countryside, the landscapes look like they’re straight from a bamboo tapestry. The softer use of colours is not always pronounced, and that helps with giving this movie a better richness than those highly saturated works other CGI films, like Kung Fu Panda, prefer to emphasise.

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