HBO Asia reignites relationship with China Movie Channel
Details
Rebecca Hawkes
| 22 May 2017

HBO Asia will resume its collaboration with China Movie Channel (CMC) and co-produce two Chinese-language martial arts films for television, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The two networks last year produced martial arts titles Master of the Drunken Fist: Beggar So and Master of the Shadowless Kick: Wong Kei-Ying, both set in ancient China at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The two 2016 films were directed by action choreographer Guo Jian-yong, who has previously worked with John Woo and Jason Statham, and executive produced by Hong Kong action director, Corey Yuen (The Transporter, X-Men).

They were aired simultaneously on CMC’s channels in mainland China and across 23 Asian territories on HBO and RED by HBO in 2016.

“We were very pleased with how our first collaboration turned out, so we are very happy to be partnering with HBO on two more high-quality TV movies that celebrate Chinese culture and history,” Zhang Ling, vice president, China Movie Channel, told The Hollywood Reporter at the Cannes Film Festival.

CMC, also known as CCTV6, is the flagship entertainment network of state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) – which serves an estimated 1.2 billion viewers.

CMC also claims to be China’s top investor in local film production, having produced and co-produced more than 1,700 movies and TV movies, including Slave Mother (International Emmy award winner for Best Performance by an Actress), and the winner of multiple Asian film awards, The Taking of Tiger Mountain (directed by Tsui Hark and starring Tony Leung Ka Fai).

HBO Asia has also collaborated with filmmakers in Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.