Village Roadshow Asia announces first titles

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Industry News

ZHANG Ziyi 章子怡-starring My Lucky Star 非常幸運 and Stephen CHOW 周星馳-directed Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 西游　降魔篇 have been unveiled as the first two films to emerge from the new Village Roadshow Entertainment Group Asia company.

VRPA describes itself both as "a platform between the Chinese film industry and Hollywood," and also as a "label" under Village Roadshow Entertainment Group. It has a management team based in Beijing and is widely reported to be seeking a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Former Warner Bros Pictures (China) executive Ellen ELIASOPH, is set as VRPA's president and CEO. Beaver KWEI 桂侑铭 is the company's executive VP of development and production, and Chen Lizhi is named as VP of marketing and distribution.

The company also announced strategic alliances with other companies and talent in the region including with actress-producer Zhang Ziyi; producer Bill KONG 江志強; a two film deal with director CHEN Daming 陳大明; with Chinese production and distribution company Dadi Media Group 大地文化傳播集團; with Australian visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic, entertainment marketing group Cimarron; and with Screen Engine, for professional technical services.

My Lucky Star, a pan-Asia romantic comedy/caper will star and be produced by Zhang with Hollywood's Dennie GORDON (New York Minute) directing. VREG Asia and Dadi Media will jointly finance and co-produce.

Journey to the West, an adaptation of the traditional Monkey King story is being written, produced and directed by Chow, with Bingo Group Holdings Ltd 比高集團有限公司, VREG Asia and Edko Films Ltd 安樂影片有限公司 jointly financing and co-producing.

"As a global entertainment company that operates across all areas of the film and music industry, we are making state-of-the-art resources available to our partners in China," said Greg Basser, CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group in a statement. "We are honored to join forces with local and international partners to develop and produce movie projects, and to become a participant in the Chinese film industry."

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