CELESTIAL PICTURES PARTNERS WITH THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY ON THE AVENGING EAGLE AND COME DRINK WITH ME
REMAKES WILL BE ENGLISH VERSIONS OF CLASSIC MARTIAL ARTS TITLES
New York, NY – July 24, 2013 – Celestial Pictures Limited (Celestial Pictures) and The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today that they are partnering on remakes of two classic 1970s martial arts titles: THE AVENGING EAGLE and COME DRINK WITH ME. Both original films are part of the renowned Shaw Brothers library, the largest Chinese-language feature film library in the world. The two films with TWC will mark Celestial Pictures’ first English-language martial arts remakes of Shaw Brothers’ films. Harvey Weinstein and David Thwaites will be producing; John Fusco, who is also set to pen the screenplay for the upcoming sequel CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON II: THE GREEN DESTINY, is confirmed to write both projects.
In the thriller THE AVENGING EAGLE, a cabal master known as King Eagle raises orphans to be his own personal thugs in an outlaw band called The Thirteen Eagles – The Assassins Of The Iron Boat Clan. One of the orphans decides to rebel and strike out on his own, leading the rest of the group to want him dead. He joins up with a mysterious warrior and proceeds to take down King Eagle. The original film, directed by Sun Chung, was released in Hong Kong in 1978, winning awards such as “The Most Outstanding Actor” (Ti Lung) at the Asian Film Festival and “Best Editing for Drama” (Chiang Hsing-loong) at The Golden Horse Awards.
A ruthless band of thugs kidnap a young official as hostage to exchange for their captured leader in COME DRINK WITH ME. The prisoner’s sister, highly skilled martial artist Golden Swallow, is sent to free him. Although she is able to handle the overwhelming odds, she is hit by a poison dart, and needs help from a beggar who is really a Kung-Fu master in disguise. With his help, she forms a plan to get her brother back. The original film was directed by King Hu, who is best known for directing various wuxia (Kung-Fu) films in the 1960s and 1970s. This was his first success and remains a classic of the wuxia genre, catapulting the then 20-year-old starlet Cheng Pei-pei (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) to fame. The original film, released in Hong Kong in 1966, participated in various film festivals such as New York Film Festival, Festival de Cannes and Tokyo International Film Festival.
“Audiences in Asia and indeed the world over have enjoyed classic titles from the Shaw Brothers library for decades,” commented Ralph Marshall, Director of Celestial Pictures. “With Harvey Weinstein and TWC, we have the best possible partners to reinvent THE AVENGING EAGLE and COME DRINK WITH ME for a new generation. With further productions in development, and the imminent release of library titles globally on digital platforms, Celestial Pictures will continue to showcase its rich, enthralling and iconic stories and characters in new and innovative ways”.
Said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein: “Shaw Brothers and Sir Run Run Shaw were responsible for ushering some of the first great, legendary Asian filmmakers and acting talent onto the world stage. It’s an exciting opportunity to be bringing new life to these two classic films and taking them into the global market with Celestial Pictures.”
The deal for THE AVENGING EAGLE and COME DRINK WITH ME was negotiated by Kristen Tong for Celestial Pictures with David Glasser for TWC.
ABOUT CELESTIAL PICTURES LIMITED
Celestial Pictures Limited (Celestial Pictures) is a diversified entertainment company bringing the best in Asian entertainment to the world. The company focuses on film and television content origination, aggregation and worldwide distribution.
Celestial Pictures owns the Shaw Brothers library, the world’s largest Chinese film collection, with over 760 feature films originally released over a fifty year period. The library has inspired countless filmmakers with its vast pool of classics including THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS, HEX, THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, KING BOXER and THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. These award-winning films have been digitally restored frame-by-frame for global distribution. The company has also been active in producing new film content, both originals and remakes based on the Shaw Brothers library films. Recent releases include PERHAPS LOVE, MY KINGDOM and CONTROL (in post-production).
Celestial Pictures has a substantial investment in Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE), a venture with Saban Capital Group and Lionsgate. It operates branded pay television channels and produces and distributes content for Asian audiences. CTE’s channel bouquet includes CELESTIAL MOVIES, CELESTIAL CLASSIC MOVIES, CELESTIAL MOVIES HD, KIX, KIX HD and THRILL, with a footprint that spans Asia and Australia.
Headquartered in Hong Kong, Celestial Pictures is owned by ASTRO Holdings Sdn Bhd (ASTRO), a leading integrated consumer media entertainment group in Malaysia and South East Asia. ASTRO owns a portfolio of international and regional investments in Pay TV, Radio, Publications and Digital Media. ASTRO’s Malaysian domestic Pay TV business has a customer base of over 3.5 million residential customers (approximately 52% penetration of Malaysian TV households), and offers 170 TV channels, including 37 HD channels, delivered via Direct-To-Home satellite TV, IPTV and OTT platforms.
ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY
The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as SCREAM, SPY KIDS and SCARY MOVIE. Together TWC and Dimension Films have released a broad range of mainstream, genre and specialty films that have been commercial and critical successes. TWC releases took home eight 2012 Academy Awards®, the most wins in the studio’s history. The tally included Best Picture for Michel Hazanavicius’s THE ARTIST and Best Documentary Feature for TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay’s UNDEFEATED. THE ARTIST brought TWC its second consecutive Best Picture statuette following the 2011 win for Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH.
Since 2005, TWC and Dimension Films have released such films as GRINDHOUSE; 1408; I’M NOT THERE; THE GREAT DEBATERS; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; THE ROAD; HALLOWEEN; THE PAT TILLMAN STORY; PIRANHA 3D; INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS; A SINGLE MAN; BLUE VALENTINE; THE COMPANY MEN; MIRAL; SCRE4M; SUBMARINE; DIRTY GIRL; APOLLO 18; OUR IDIOT BROTHER; I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT; SARAH’S KEY; SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D; MY WEEK WITH MARILYN; THE IRON LADY; W.E.; CORIOLANUS; UNDEFEATED; THE ARTIST; BULLY; THE INTOUCHABLES; LAWLESS; KILLING THEM SOFTLY; THE MASTER; SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK; DJANGO UNCHAINED; QUARTET; ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH; DARK SKIES; THE SAPPHIRES; SCARY MOVIE 5; and KON-TIKI. Currently in release are UNFINISHED SONG and FRUITVALE STATION. Upcoming releases include THE BUTLER, THE GRANDMASTER and SALINGER.
TWC is active in television production, led by former Miramax Films President of Production Meryl Poster. TWC is the studio behind such hit television series as the Emmy® nominated and Peabody Award winning reality series PROJECT RUNWAY and its spin-off series PROJECT RUNWAY ALL STARS and PROJECT ACCESSORY; the VH1 reality series MOB WIVES and its spin-off series MOB WIVES CHICAGO and BIG ANG; and the critically acclaimed scripted HBO comedy/crime series THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY which also received a Peabody Award. The company is in production on the upcoming TLC series WELCOME TO MYRTLE MANOR, the A&E series RODEO QUEENS, and the Lifetime reality competition show SUPERMARKET SUPERSTAR hosted by Stacy Keibler. Among TWC’s other projects in development for television are the martial-arts epic MARCO POLO for Starz, an untitled private eye procedural for FX, and THE NANNY DIARIES developed by ABC with a pilot by Amy Sherman Palladino.