Whether or not Jackie Chan and Jet Li oppose or compliment each other in the latest Hollywood flick The Forbidden Kingdom, audiences seem to be lapping up all the action.
The massive hype about The Forbidden Kingdom revolves around it being the first movie collaboration between the two biggest Asian screen martial arts exponents, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. With a working title like The J & J Project, and having Yuen Wo-Ping as action director and Peter Pau as director of photography, the movie promised lots of sparks as the two legends go head-to-head for the first time.
In a recent report by LAT-WP, the Lionsgate Films and Weinstein Co release directed by Rob Minkoff that paired Li and Chan for the first time, topped the weekend box office in the United States with an estimated US$20.9mil (RM65.7mil) in ticket sales.
Financed at an estimated US$75mil (RM236mil) by Relativity Media along with Weinstein and Lionsgate, the martial arts adventure skewed male but attracted an age balance. The audience was 58% male and 54% under 25, Lionsgate said.
In a recent report by LAT-WP, the Lionsgate Films and Weinstein Co release directed by Rob Minkoff that paired Li and Chan for the first time, topped the weekend box office in the United States with an estimated US$20.9mil (RM65.7mil) in ticket sales.
Financed at an estimated US$75mil (RM236mil) by Relativity Media along with Weinstein and Lionsgate, the martial arts adventure skewed male but attracted an age balance. The audience was 58% male and 54% under 25, Lionsgate said.
Chan turned 54 early this month and Li will be 45 this weekend. Together their ages add up to 99 so they really couldn’t wait any longer for their first on-screen pairing. And though they’ve known each other for over 20 years, opportunities to work together had not materialised before.
Their first opportunity came 15 years ago when they both filmed for the same company, Golden Harvest, but plans fell through due to political issues and distribution problems. A second opportunity came seven to eight years ago in Hollywood but, again, things did not work out. This time around, both are glad everything worked out fine.
Prior to the press conference, it was reported that in earlier interviews, both Chan and Li had advised audiences not to expect too much from The Forbidden Kingdom.
Their first opportunity came 15 years ago when they both filmed for the same company, Golden Harvest, but plans fell through due to political issues and distribution problems. A second opportunity came seven to eight years ago in Hollywood but, again, things did not work out. This time around, both are glad everything worked out fine.
Prior to the press conference, it was reported that in earlier interviews, both Chan and Li had advised audiences not to expect too much from The Forbidden Kingdom.
Li started studying Chinese martial arts when he was eight, and trained with the Beijing wushu team. He won his first national wushu championship when he was 11, and has since gone on to win a string of championships; he has been declared a National Treasure by the Chinese Government.
Chan was apprenticed to the Chinese Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School, where he excelled in martial arts and acrobatics since he was six. He joined Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group, and made his first movie appearance at the age of eight.
Playing two characters each in The Forbidden Kingdom, both appeared to have had quite a lot of fun making the movie.
Chan was apprenticed to the Chinese Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School, where he excelled in martial arts and acrobatics since he was six. He joined Seven Little Fortunes, a performance group, and made his first movie appearance at the age of eight.
Playing two characters each in The Forbidden Kingdom, both appeared to have had quite a lot of fun making the movie.
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