Television
September 18, 2002
Warner Bros. International Television Pacts With PRC And Hong Kong Partners For Mandarin Chinese Telefilm Package
(September 18, 2002 - Beijing, China) – Warner Bros. International Television has entered into an agreement with two companies from The People’s Republic of China, Century Heroes and Hainan White Horse Advertising Media Co., Ltd. and a Hong Kong-based partner, Salon Films, for the joint development, production and distribution of a slate of 10 Mandarin language made-for-television movies. The announcement was made today by Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. International Television.
The telefilms will each be a stand-alone story set in the Ching Dynasty (1644 –1911), but the 10 will have thematic continuity. Set against the rugged northwestern landscape of China’s Yellow River basin, the stories will profile fictional heroes who use their unique fighting skills to right wrongs, while highlighting the central themes of loyalty, self-sacrifice and the heroes’ struggles against the era’s corrupt landlords and petty officials. Each episode will be designed to highlight one of the traditional Confucian virtues, such as compassion, loyalty and courage.
Shot in digital video on location in China, each installment will be 90 minutes in length and the 10 films will be formatted with the flexibility of being broadcast as a series of 20 45-minute episodes. Although primarily intended for television and home video distribution, it is likely that some of the episodes will be released theatrically in China. The PRC partners will be responsible for domestic distribution of the slate while Warner Bros. will distribute the films in all media outside of China.
The project, which begins production in Ningxia Province later this month, has attracted some of China’s most creative talents. Feng Xiaogang, China’s most commercially successful film director (“Party A, Party B,” “Be There or Be Square,” “Big Shot’s Funeral”), will act as Creative Supervisor and Executive Producer, managing the overall creative concept and script development, and supervising a powerful team of directors including Huang Jianxin (“the Black Cannon Incident”; “Surveillance”) and Zhang Jianya (“Crash Landing”). Well-known actors Fu Biao (“Sorry, Baby”; “Big Shot’s Funeral”), You Yung (“Dream House”) and Xu Fan (“Be There or Be Square”; “Party A, Party B”), as well as other leading and up-and-coming talent from the PRC’s film and music worlds, will star in the films.
Century Heroes is a newly established PRC film and television production company. Its shareholders are the Cultural and Sports Industry Co. subsidiary of the China Investment and Trust Corporation (“CITIC”), and the China Film Group Corporation. The company’s General Manager is Han Sanping, who has long been and remains the General Manager of Beijing Film Studio, China’s most prolific producer of feature films. Chen Kaige is Chief Creative Supervisor and a director of the company.
Hainan White Horse Advertising Media Co., Ltd. is a Chinese-foreign joint venture affiliate of Guangdong White Horse Group Corporation, one of China’s largest outdoor media and advertising agencies. Han Ziding, one of China’s leading advertising industry executives, chairs Hainan White Horse. The principal business of Hainan White Horse is the management of television advertising spots and production of television commercials, distribution of television programming, and publication and distribution of sports and lifestyle magazines.
Salon Films is Asia’s leading film equipment and technical services company. Beginning with “The World of Suzie Wong,” Salon has provided production equipment and services to many Hollywood productions. The company operates not only in Hong Kong but also in Mainland China. Its most recent high-profile projects include “Rush Hour,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Rush Hour II.” # # #