On the heels of the grossing $38 million on its first three days of release in China with the Taiwan-set romance More Than Blue, Fox Networks Group Asia is teaming up again with Singapore studio mm2 Entertainment to re-create the magic on A Trip With Your Wife, with the same creative team of director Gavin Lin, writer Hermes Lu and castmembers.
More Than Blue has been a hit throughout Asia since its release in late 2018. It was the top local film in Taiwan and highest-grossing Asian film in Singapore in 2018.
“We have felt for a few years already that romance will be a major movie trend, so we have been looking for quality romantic drama projects,” Cora Yim, senior vp and head of Chinese Entertainment at FNGA, told The Hollywood Reporter. “We welcome the chance to work with mm2 Entertainment on More Than Blue, and its success has validated our strategy. We are happy to further our collaboration with mm2 Entertainment as a co-producer on A Trip With Your Wife.”
Related Stories
Mm2 Entertainment is also on board to co-invest in FNGA’s five-part anthology miniseries Memory Eclipse, inspired by the songs of the late Taiwanese singing legend Teresa Teng and produced by Yim and Infernal Affairs producer John Chong. Three episodes have completed filming.
“The quality of the episodes completed so far is very satisfactory, and we see particular potential as a feature film in one of the episodes,” said Yim. A promo reel of Memory Eclipse will be shown at Filmart.
FNGA has been extending its footprint in Asia in recent years, following the success of its original productions in Hong Kong, the hit 2018 financial miniseries The Trading Floor produced by and starring Asian superstar Andy Lau, and detective thriller Stained, starring Anthony Wong and Kara Wei. “After we’ve made a start in Hong Kong with the two miniseries, we are expanding the quantity in premium productions and reaching into more regions,” said Yim.
In Taiwan, FNGA is set to produce a new miniseries and a feature film, both scheduled to begin production in May 2019. The miniseries will be a crime thriller in the standard of The Trading Floor.
In Hong Kong, a second series of The Trading Floor is also in development, with Lau returning to produce and star. Filming is set to commence in 2020.
In China, FNGA is likewise developing a number of miniseries and films. “There are no limits for good content,” commented Yim. “A good film has a great deal of influence. It can be turned into a franchise, first released as a feature film, then spinned off into a TV series.”
Going global from a local source is a part of FNGA’s strategy. FNGA announced the purchase of worldwide format rights of basketball reality series Dunk of China from Chinese video hosting platform Youku last October, and is adapting it into Dunk of Taiwan to capitalize on the popularity of basketball there. Dunk of China debuted in April 2018 on Youku and had 50 million views for its first episode in four days, featuring Brooklyn Nets pro Jeremy Lin and Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou as mentors of the contestants. “At the moment, we are in talks with major Taiwanese talents for Dunk of Taiwan, but we are also considering going global with the series and creating English-language versions.”
