CELESTIAL PICTURES LAUNCHES FIRST-EVER GAME APP FOR A CHINESE MOVIE
Promotional game for upcoming martial arts movie My Kingdom launches on the web and iTunes
10 August 2011, Hong Kong – Celestial Pictures, the Chinese content company and operator of regional pay-TV channels, took its first step into the gaming business today by launching the first-ever game app for a Chinese movie. Available today, My Kingdom Game can be played via the website www.celestialpictures.com/game/mykingdom.asp or downloaded for free from Apple’s iTunes store (for iPhones and iPod Touches. An iPad compatible version will be released later). Created to promote Celestial’s upcoming martial arts movie of the same name, My Kingdom Game was developed with leading independent Chinese game developer Art Coding. Through a simple, casual rhythm-based game, the tightly-woven tale of two brothers’ quest for fame, love and revenge is unveiled.
“The gaming business is a new frontier for Celestial and our upcoming movie release created a perfect opportunity for us to launch a promotional game and target young audiences who interact with entertainment across broad media including their mobile devices,” said Ross Pollack, CEO, Celestial Pictures. “We are proud that this is the first game app for a Chinese movie and we look forward to bringing new and exciting content to the market including modern reinterpretations of our iconic Shaw Brothers Film Library.”
Based on the storyline of the movie, players can choose to be either of the two main characters from the movie played by young idols Wu Chun and Han Geng. Players need to tap on a drum (controlled by keyboard or by tapping directly on the screen of their iPhone or iPod Touch) to match with icons on the screen in order to gain points. Bonus items await players as they navigate through various levels. Players will be awarded with movie stills when they successfully pass each stage of the challenge. Upon completing all four stages of the game and three stages of difficulty, players will be awarded with the “The Mightiest Warrior” plaque; the same plaque all the characters are fighting for in the movie. For mainland China players, the game has a function tied to their Sina Weibo accounts allowing their scores to be displayed on their Sina Weibo micro-blogging updates.
My Kingdom Game is Celestial’s first game since appointing Justin Weng as Vice President, Game Development and Licensing back in April. My Kingdom (Da Wu Sheng), the movie, is a martial arts action drama starring Wu Chun, Han Geng, and Barbie Hsu, written by acclaimed writer Zou Jingzhi (Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles), action directed by the legendary Sammo Hung and directed by Gao Xiaosong.
For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/dawusheng.
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Media enquiries
Pauline Poon
Celestial Pictures
T: (852) 2626 8131/ 9776 5564
E: pauline.poon@celestialpictures.com
About Celestial Pictures
Celestial Pictures is a diversified entertainment company that brings the best of Asian entertainment to the world. The company focuses on Asian-language film and television content origination, aggregation and worldwide distribution, as well as the operation of global television channels, including CELESTIAL MOVIES, CELESTIAL CLASSIC MOVIES and WaTV.
The company owns the Shaw Brothers Film Library, the world’s largest Chinese film collection, with over 760 feature films originally released over a forty-year time frame. These award-winning Shaw Brothers films have been digitally restored frame-by-frame, and distributed in cinemas and on home video, television, and new media markets worldwide.
Celestial Pictures is also active in producing new feature films and acquiring third-party film content for worldwide distribution with an option to broadcast on its television channels.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Celestial Pictures is a subsidiary of ASTRO ALL ASIA NETWORKS plc.