June 16, 2019 At the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival, Er Dong Pictures held a launch event on June 16th, Golden Age · Er Dong Night. The event allowed Er Dong Pictures to demonstrate its strategic cooperation with the Gersh Agency and world-renowned directors, producers and talents.
Many famous domestic and global filmmakers such as senior Hollywood director Mr Roland Emmerich, senior producer Mr Gianni Nunnari, Co-President & Managing Partner of Gersh Agency Mr Robert Gersh and senior screenwriter Han Jianv attended the event and announced their new work.
During 2019, the box office takings for the Chinese films Song of Youth and P Storm, which were largely financed by Er Dong Pictures, exceeded expectations in the domestic market, while several Er Dong cineplexes have opened nationwide.
Since its establishment four years ago, The company’s mission is to create high-quality entertainment content, relying on its five major business segments: first, its Film and TV Investment Department; second, its Film and TV Production Department; third, its Cinema Management Department; fourth, its VR Film and TV Technology Department; and finally, its Talent Representation Department.The company has now begun to explore gradually expanding into global markets and has initiated development plans with a forward-looking strategic vision.
Er Dong Pictures has developed a deep strategic relationship with renowned Hollywood talent agency, the Gersh Agency, and the two organization will cooperate to establish a joint venture company in the future. In a move that is designed to seize market opportunities, they have already begun to develop film and television (TV) projects involving action stars and action movies that are popular with audiences all over the world. At the event, famous action stars Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais from Gersh introduced their latest action movies Silent and Chinatown Express respectively. Senior producer Gianni Nunnari also announced his latest film, Kill Yourself. Yalun Tu will be writing these original concepts which he created for the talent. Brett Norensberg, William Gersh and Mike Staudt from Gersh also attended the event.
Ms Yuki Zhang, General Manager of Er Dong Pictures and Ms Nancy Xu, Vice President of the US branch of Starlight Culture Entertainment Group, jointly announced the film and TV projects with top directors and producers from around the world.
Meanwhile, Roland Emmerich, the director of 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow and senior producer Gianni Nunnari announced their latest work, Those About To Die. Senior producer Harald Kloser is also attached to produce.
The Er Dong Pictures event also saw the release of work by many of the world’s top filmmakers. Jon M. Chu, the director of Crazy Rich Asians and Now You See Me 2, will also be cooperating with Er Dong Pictures and Starlight and he expressed his expectations for this cooperative working relationship in a video message at the event.
It was also announced at the event that iconic actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone will be cooperating with Er Dong Pictures and Starlight on three projects. Mr Stallone will remake The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, the most popular film in Korea this year; like the original movie, the American version will star Ma Dong-Seok, also known as Don Lee. This will be produced by Starlight Culture Entertainment and Er Dong Pictures, who will also jointly develop Walled City and Jiadong, while Han Jianv, the screenwriter of Chinese hit Dying to Survive will participate in the creation of Jiadong.
In addition to its efforts in the international market this year, Er Dong Pictures continues to explore the creative power and support new directors in the domestic market. The company will work with directors Michael Jia, Cui Zhijia and Lv Kejing to produce Stealing Time, Eight and A Half Seconds and Good Morning Princess. Among these, it is worth mentioning that Stealing Time has renowned talent Han Jianv as its screenwriter.
If high-quality content is at the core of effective competition in the film and TV market, then film talents are its driving force. Er Dong Pictures’ top talent strategy aims to select excellent producers, directors and actors with a global scope, as well as maximizing the advantages of these top film talents across different fields to produce excellent film and television projects together.
Actor Frank Grillo, who gave a wonderful performance in Wolf Warriors II, attended the event together with director Joe Carnahan whom he jointly created War Party Films with. Preity Zinta, a well-known Indian actress who starred in Veer-Zaara also attended the event and discussed future collaboration plans with Er Dong Pictures. Ma Dong-Seok, the popular action star and producer who appeared in Train to Busan and The Outlaws, appeared via video link to express his hopes for future collaboration with Er Dong Pictures.
In the future, Er Dong Pictures hopes to bring audiences more diverse film and television content, creating even better entertainment products and delivering more interesting interactive experiences to a worldwide audience by integrating the advantages of global resources.