EXCLUSIVE: Fresh from a capital injection from Alibaba and a stellar year at the box office, Beijing-based Enlight Pictures has lined up a string of top Chinese filmmakers for its 2015 slate, including Xu Zheng, Zhang Yibai, Deng Chao and actress Zhou Xun.
The ambitious studio is also expanding its partnership with Justin Lin, who recently produced Hollywood Adventures, starring Zhao Wei and Huang Xiaoming, and next year will direct a 3D remake of Shaolin Temple for Enlight and Bruno Wu’s Seven Stars Entertainment.
Lin is already planning a UK-set sequel to Hollywood Adventures, which is expected to start shooting next year.
Following the huge success of Lost In Thailand, Xu Zheng has directed a sequel, Lost In Hong Kong, in which he also stars with Zhao Wei and Bao Bei-er. Currently in post-production, the film is tentatively scheduled for an August release.
Zhou Xun is making her first foray into producing for Enlight with two projects – Zhou Ke’s legal thriller Black Mandara, in which she also stars with Francis Ng, and an as-yet-untitled drama starring male supermodel Liu Chang and directed by Janet Chun.
In addition, Deng Chao is planning a follow-up to his 2014 hit The Breakup Guru, Asshole Angel (working title), scheduled to start shooting in June; while Zhang Yibai is directing an adaptation of Zhang Jiajia’s novel Passing By Your World, to start shooting this summer.
Enlight’s Chinese slate also include Alec Su You-peng’s youth drama My Left Ear, starring Ou Hao, which is scheduled for release on April 30.
Enlight had a 19.43% share of the Chinese-language film market last year with box office of $510m.
Last month, Alibaba acquired an 8.8% stake in the company for $380m.
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