“Hot Summer Days,” brings together an all-star cast in a romantic comedy with six intertwining stories. (Think: “Valentine’s Day,” opening this week, and “Love Actually.”) “Hot Summer Days” opened Thursday in mainland China and is scheduled for release in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and elsewhere later this month.
Twentieth Century Fox
Fox has long been interested in making Chinese-language films. “China is such an exciting market right now,” says Sanford Panitch, president of Fox International Productions, noting in an interview that it was hard to imagine just a few years ago that China would become the second-biggest movie market in the world after North America.
“Part of what’s exciting for us is finding emerging talent,” he says. The movie’s co-directors, Wing Shya and Tony Chan, both are making their directorial debut with “Hot Summer Days.”
Fox is hoping that the $2 million-budget movie stands out in a crowded movie season of big-budget period epics (“Confucius”) and action movies (“14 Blades” and “True Legend”).
“There aren’t many romantic comedies right now,” Panitch says. He hopes the movie will lure audiences with its stories about both young and middle-age love. “Chinese New Year is the time of year when you want a movie for everyone,” he says.
The movie’s big-name cast includes Jacky Cheung (“Perhaps Love”), Nicholas Tse (“Bodyguards and Assassins”), Daniel Wu (“The Banquet”), Rene Liu (“A World Without Thieves”), Vivian Hsu (“If You Are the One”), Barbie Hsu (“On His Majesty’s Secret Service”), Angela Baby (“All’s Well, Ends Well: 2010”), Jing Boran and Fu Xinbo from the pop duo BoBo, and legendary martial-arts actor Gordon Liu (the “Kill Bill” movies).
The film includes several high-profile cameos, most notably movie icon Maggie Cheung in her first big-screen role in several years. Her appearance drew thrilled gasps from a preview audience in Hong Kong on Thursday night.
“Hot Summer Days” was produced and financed by Fox International Productions, Star Greater China and Huayi Brothers Media. Fox and Star are owned by News Corp., which publishes The Wall Street Journal. (The movie doesn’t shy away from a bit of self-promotion: The movie’s characters tune in to Star TV for local news.)
Panitch says that Fox currently is working with veteran filmmaker John Woo on a heist-action movie titled “King’s Ransom” and is also developing two other Chinese romantic comedies. He declined to elaborate.
