Following the phenomenal success of I Not Stupid and I Not Stupid Too, which is nominated for best Asian film at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, MediaCorp Raintree Pictures is set to extend the franchise to the vast China market with a follow-up to be shot entirely in China.

I Not Stupid - China was unveiled at Hong Kong Filmart by Raintree as a co-production with Hong Kong's Emperor Motion Pictures and Singapore's Scorpio East Pictures.

Jack Neo, Singapore's most commercially successful director of the popular I Not Stupid franchise, will direct and write the script. Similarly, the new picture will focus on the intense education pressure on children. Shooting is expected to start in the third quarter in China.

Raintree will also back Taller Than Yao Ming by up and coming Singapore writer-director Han Yew Kwang. Greater China Media Entertainment, which was previously involved in Zhang Yuan's Little Red Flowers, is co-producing with Scorpio East.

Rounding out the slate are inspiration drama School in the Sky which will be shot in the Bhutanese language by new director Dennis Wong, and Lee Thean-jeen's A Bit of Earth, an epic drama about a China-born scholar's son who goes from rags-to-riches in Malaya.

Currently in production is Royston Tan's musical 881, a collaboration with Eric Khoo's Zhao Wei Films.

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