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Hong Kong – Director Wong Kar Wai's martial arts epic The Grandmaster has been selected to be Hong Kong's representative in the best foreign language film category at the 86th Academy Awards, the Federation of Motion Film Producers announced on Monday. Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai (Infernal Affairs, Lust, Caution) and Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; My Lucky Star), The Grandmaster was screened in Los Angeles during a special salute to Wong -- whose other credits include Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and My Blueberry Nights -- by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on July 22. Photos: 100 Oscars

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Australian box office takings improved by a modest 8% to $10.7 million last weekend despite the launch of four films aimed at kids and teenagers..

However business should pick up for all four as the full effect of the school holidays kicks in during the week.

DreamWorks Animation.s Turbo led the field, nabbing $1.5 million and nearly $1.7 million with previews. That.s a fair start for the comedy about the turbo-charged snail that enters the Indy 500, considering that, in the Us, the film posted the lowest debut for a DreamWorks movie since 2006's Flushed Away, and has since raked in about $US82 million.

Another under-performer in the Us, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, the sequel to the superhero adventure featuring Logan Lerman as the half-human son of sea god Poseidon, raked in a so-so $1.4 million.

Evidently Justin Bieber has a lot more fans in Oz than One Direction, judging by the $881,000 debut...

The biggest draw at China's box office this week is My Lucky Star featuring top Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi, but the spy-themed romantic comedy marks a breakthrough as director Dennie Gordon is the first American woman to direct a Chinese feature. A prequel to the 2009 hit Sophie's Revenge, which featured Zhang in her breakthrough comedy role, My Lucky Star took in $1.71 million when it opened on Tuesday. Story: MPAA Chair Christopher Dodd, Li Bingbing to Be Honored at U.S.-China Film Summit  The movie features Zhang as a cartoonist named Sophie who becomes involved with a

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Well-crafted popcorn fare is as tough to pull off as its highbrow counterpart—maybe more so. Being successful involves knowing that light doesn't equal stupid, and discerning between formula and formulaic. Neither director Dennie Gordon nor the four credited screenwriters of My Lucky Star seem able to make those distinctions. Sophie (a luminous Zhang Ziyi) is a struggling graphic novelist plugging away as an office drone. Both her secret fantasy life and the content of her creative output (the latter brought to life in animated sequences) center on damsel-in-distress narratives in which a dashing hero sweeps in to save the heroine and shower her with true love. Egged on by her three best friends—it makes no sense beyond trite cinematic sch...

Apparently a sequel of sorts to Zhang Ziyi’s 2009 film “Sophie’s Revenge”, veteran American TV director Dennie Gordon’s 2013 movie “My Lucky Star” picks up with the character as she gets involved with a suave spy and all manner of International intrigue. The guy is played by Wang Leehom, an up and coming actor who just landed the plum lead in Stan Lee’s Chinese-us superhero co-production “The Annihilator”, and can next be seen in Michael Mann’s “Cyber” with Chris Hemsworth. “My Lucky Star” has been picked up by China Lion, who will release the film on September 20th in North America on a day-and-date with Mainland China, which, I take it to mean it will arrive on U.S. screens at the same time it opens in China. Which is a rarity, and I don’t recall that happening very often with Chinese films Stateside. At the moment,...

Keshet Int’l Invades Canada With Mark Rubenstein Keshet International is moving into Canada via a joint venture with veteran TV executive Mark Rubinstein. Keshet Canada will bring Keshet’s scripted and unscripted formats to the Canadian market and will look to develop, produce and co-produce original content. Rubinstein is a former president and CEO of Insight Sports and COO of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting. The venture will have the rights to over 50 Keshet International properties, to be produced in the territory under the Keshet Canada banner. Keshet, the company behind Prisoners Of War, the Israeli source of Homeland, has recently set up shop in Australia and the UK. Bona Film Group Gets $34.2M Credit Line China’s Bona Film Group, which part-owned by News Corp., has secured a $34.2M revolving credit line with China Minsheng Banking Corp. The facility will be for three years and will be used to help grow exhibition,...

Zhang ZiYi is one of my favorite actresses, her acting is always great to watch, she fights very well and always chooses great movies, how can i not like her. Some of my favorite movies including Zhang are Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House Of The Flying Daggers, Rush Hour 2 and The Banquet.

Selected Filmography

2000:Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

2001:Rush Hour 2

2002:Hero

2004:House of Flying Daggers

2005:Memoirs of a Geisha

2006:The Banquet

2012:The Grandmasters

Background

Zhang was born and raised in Beijing, to Zhang Yuanxiao, an accountant and later economist, and Li Zhousheng, a kindergarten teacher. She is very close to her older brother, Zhang Zinan. Zhang began studying dance when she was 8 years old; subsequently, she joined the Beijing Dance Academy by her parents’ suggestion at the age of 11. While at this boarding school, she noticed how mean the other girls were to each...

Dennie Gordon ("New York Minute," "Joe Dirt") is set to direct the Chinese-language rom-com "My Lucky Star" at Bona Entertainment says Variety.

A prequel to 2009's "Sophie's Revenge", Zhang Ziyi will reprise her role as Sophie with the story set in Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. Singer Wang Leehom also stars.

Ling Lucas, Beaver Kwei, Second Chan and William Cheng are producing with shooting currently underway. Gordon is said to be the first American woman to direct a feature for the domestic market in China.

Ziyi Zhang has signed on to star in My Lucky Star, a prequel to the Chinese blockbuser Sophie's Revenge. Dennie Gordon (Joe Dirt, What A Girl Wants) will direct, making her the first American filmmaker to helm a feature for the Chinese market.

The comedic adventure will be set all over the globe, with featured locations including Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau. Ziyi Zhang reprises her role as Sophie, with Chinese singer Leehom Wang joining the cast. Here's what Dennie Gordon had to say about the project.

"I am thrilled to be working on My Lucky Star and to have the great fortune to be working with some of the most creative and forward-thinking talents in the business. We are doing something new and very exciting, where a specific Hollywood style is brought to a Chinese feature."

Bona Entertainment is producing along with Ling Lucas, Ming Beaver Kwei, and William Cheng.

Director Dennie Gordon has begun production on the Chinese-language film "My Lucky Star," the prequel to 2009's blockbuster "Sophie's Revenge." International star Zhang Ziyi will reprise her role as Sophie, a glamorous globe-trotter caught up in a crime caper. Gordon's presence as director on this film marks an interesting milestone: She is the first American woman to direct a feature for the domestic market in China. Her previous credits include various episodes of "30 Rock," "The Office" and HBO's "Tracy Takes On," for which Gordon won a DGA. She also directed the feature films "Joe Dirt," "New York Minute" and "What a Girl Wants." Zhang is best known to American audiences for her leaps and bounds in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," and will star in the much-anticipated if mysterious Ip Man biopic "The...

Filmmaker Dennie Gordon has signed on to direct the Chinese language film "My Lucky Star," which is a long-awaited prequel to the Chinese blockbuster "Sophie's Revenge," the filmmakers announced in a statement on Friday. Gordon is the first American woman to direct a feature for the domestic market in China. She developed the romantic comedy with Beaver Kwei, Amy Snow and Huang Hai. The film toplines Zhang Ziyi, who is joined by the Chinese singer and star Wang Leehom. It is presented by Bona Entertainment and is being produced by Ling Lucas,...

American filmmaker Dennie Gordon is teaming with international star Zhang Ziyi on the Chinese-language film My Lucky Star, the long-awaited prequel to the Chinese hit Sophie's Revenge. The story is described as an exotic, multi-city romance containing elements of mistaken identity and an international crime caper that takes Ziyi, reprising her role as Sophie, on a glamorous adventure from Beijing to Singapore to Hong Kong and Macau. Production is under way. With the project, Gordon becomes the first American woman to direct a feature for the domestic market in China. Eva Jin directed Sophie's Revenge. “I am thrilled

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Filmmaker Dennie Gordon has begun production on a Chinese language production of My Lucky Star , the prequel to the Chinese blockbuster Sophie's Revenge . The film is presented by Bona Entertainment and is produced by Ling Lucas, Beaver Kwei, Second Chan, William Cheng and stars Zhang Ziyi, who is joined by Chinese singer and star Wang Leehom. The Production Designer is Second Chan with Armando Salas serving as Dp. Gordon developed the romantic comedy with Beaver Kwei, Amy Snow and Huang Hai. My Lucky Star is an exotic multi city romance containing elements of mistaken identity and an international crime caper that takes Zhang Ziyi, reprising her role as Sophie, on a glamorous adventure from Beijing to Singapore to Hong Kong and Macau. .I am thrilled to be working on 'My...