Larry Yang: Celebs Rumors

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHong Kong-based sales firm Golden Network has picked up international rights to Jackie Chan’s upcoming film “Ride On.”The feature has recently wrapped production and is scheduled to be released on Dec. 31 in time for what is normally a peak cinemagoing period in China and elsewhere.Asian films are currently struggling to achieve pre-sales in international markets, but “Ride On” could be an exception.

Naman Ramachandran Australia and New Zealand company Via Vision Entertainment is expanding its media distribution business with the launch of the Imprint Asia label. The brand will be launching with a host of new films including Cui Rui and Liu Xiang’s box office smash “Lost In The Stars,” Larry Yang’s action comedy “Ride On,” starring Jackie Chan and sci-fi epic “The Wandering Earth 2” starring Andy Lau. In addition to the new release slate there will be ongoing classic releases with new restorations and extras produced for physical media collectors including Chen Kaige’s “The Emperor and The Assassin” (1998) and “Farewell My Concubine” (1992), Tsui Hark’s “The Legend of Zu” (2001) and Kei Kumai’s “The Sea is Watching” (2002), which is co-written by Akira Kurosawa.

Jessica Kiang Watch any of the films that made Jackie Chan a legend and you notice that so much of his graceful, goofball charisma comes from simply having one more move up his sleeve. Whether changing position while sliding down a plate-glass skyscraper or falling off a clock face onto a series of awnings or dispatching multiple assailants with his witty brand of bendy, aerobic kung-fu, only to end on a silly eye-poke or a gymnastic semi-levitation, the star-making flourish is so often the extra thing he does when anyone else would be finished. But what do you do when, nearing 70 and with almost 150 movie performances behind you, there aren’t that many one-more-moves left? Maybe you make something like Larry Yang’s “Ride On,” a sappy but enjoyable slice of family fun that has a nice horse doing wacky tricks for the younger viewers and for parents and older fans, is a gently meta, valedictory canter through the paddock of Chan’s previous achievements.