China’s Bona Film Group has unveiled plans to set up a 3D production centre in the city of Tianjin where it will produce Tsui Hark’s upcoming 3D projects Tracks In The Snowy Forest and The White-Hair Witch.
Bona has signed with the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city to set up an operation centre in its “National Animation Industry Compound”. Tracks In The Snowy Forest will be directed by Tsui, while The White-Hair Witch will be produced by Tsui and Huang Jianxin and directed by Jacob Cheung.
"We plan to produce two to three 3D films in 2012,” said Bona CEO Yu Dong, speaking in Tianjin, a city 110 km southwest of Beijing. Tsui’s 3D Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate, produced by Bona, grossed $71m (RMB450m) in China in 2011.
In addition to the 3D production centre, Bona will also set up film production, distribution, theatre management and artist management centres in the compound.
The NASDAQ-listed Bona Film Group also announced its first quarter results today. Net revenues in the first three months of 2012 were $43.7m, an increase of 126.8% from $19.3m in the first quarter of 2011. First quarter gross profit was $20.8m, an increase of 122.0% from $9.4m in the first quarter of 2011.
Bona’s upcoming production slate also includes gangster thriller The Last Tycoon, starring Chow Yun-Fat and Sammo Hung; Charlie Yeung’s Christmas Rose, produced by Tsui Hark and starring Aaron Kwok, and Overheard 3.
"We also plan to increase the number of imported films we distribute, given the success of the 2011 US action thriller Source Code,” Yu said.
For the second quarter of 2012, Bona plans to distribute The Three Musketeers in China from May 15, followed by Malaysian animated film Seefood.
Bona also announced that it has appointed Amy W. Xu to succeed Mason Xu as the company’s chief financial officer, effective June 1, 2012.