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With numerous adaptations and plotlines over the years, the modern usage of video games on film has had some great life that sees another new entry come together in this new installment. A true multinational co-production between France, China and Cambodia, director Matthias Hoene’s ‘Enter the Warriors Gate’ emerges as a decent enough fantasy/action epic from the writing/producing duo of Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen.

Living in modern American, teenager Jack loves video games and spends the majority of his time playing games or working for his boss Chang when not running from bullies. Suddenly, he finds himself entrusted with guarding Su Lin a princess from ancient China by Zhao, her companion. When she becomes captured by the barbarian Arun and whisked back to her time-period, he goes back to help save her and learns that his skills with video games enable him...

Director Tsui Hark (The Taking of Tiger Mountain) brings back the popular hero in the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise for Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, coming to digital, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD November 13 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Set during the Tang dynasty, the third film in the action-packed, martial arts franchise finds the intrepid detective defending himself from the Empress while looking to recover a magical weapon. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings has Mark Chao (Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) returning in the title role, with Feng Shaofeng (The Monkey King franchise),  Lin Gengxin (The Taking of Tiger Mountain),  Ethan Juan (The Guillotines),  Ma Sichun (Goldbuster) and  Carina Lau (Detective Dee franchise) rounding out the cast.

A bold and exciting new entry into the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings sees...

For the first time, all three of Tsui Hark’s (“The Taking of Tiger Mountain”) Detective Dee films are available in one awesome collection exclusively at Walmart on November 13. The bold and exciting smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark tell the story of Detective Dee, one of the most celebrated officials of the Tang Dynasty, who is tasked by the Empress to solve a series of inexplicable murders and mysteries.

Included in the collection are “Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon” (Well Go USA), “Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame” (Shout Factory) and “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” (Well Go USA). The collection sells for $34.98 Srp.

Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (2010)

A bizarre mystery brings together the most powerful woman in China. The soon-to-be-Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) and a formerly exiled detective, Dee Renjie...

“The give-and-take between the brilliant but bumbling hero … and his dim sidekick …

is consistently charming and funny, at once parodying and paying homage to the classic Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson dynamic.” ~ Noel Murray, Los Angeles Time

“Detective K: Secret of The Living Dead”, the third film in the popular action-mystery franchise, debuts on digital September 25 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Kim Myung-min and Oh dal-su reprise their roles as bumbling sleuths investigating a string of strange murders that suggest the work of vampires. This hilarious outing follows the hugely popular Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow (2011) and Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island (2015) and also stars Kim Ji-won (Horror Stories), Lee Min-ki (Tidal Wave) and Kim Bum (Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon).

Synopsis:

When a series of unusual murders occurs, Detective K (Kim Myung-min) and his partner (Oh Dal-soo) are once again called upon to solve the case.

The third film in the Detective Dee series and a sequel to “Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon” (2013), “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” sees our eponymous hero, Dee Renjie (Mark Chao) once again up again the formidable Empress Wu (Carina Lau) who is determined not to let anything or anyone get in the way of her ascension to power. Dee is entrusted with the Dragon Taming Mace by Emperor Gaozong which has the power to subdue any type of threat to national security, and Empress Wu needs to retrieve the mace in order that her machinations to take power are not revealed.

Detective Dee’s first appearance was in an 18th century Chinese novel “The Four Strange Cases from the Era of Empress Wu” which was later translated by the writer Van Gulik who would go to create the “Judge Dee” story series. The fictional character was based upon Ti Jen-chieh,...

The comedy has a 10-day total of $288.2m.

Hello Mr Billionaire stayed top in the week of Jul 30-Aug 5, followed by Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, as the crop of new releases didn’t light up the Chinese box office.

Following a prosperous debut weekend, Hello Mr Billionaire continued to thrive with $159.4m, which represented about 66% of the week’s total box office. Its 10-day total of $288.2m propelled it to be the 12th top grossing film of all time, surpassing Transformers 4 and The Ex-File 3.

As Mahua FunAge’s latest comedy, Hello Mr Billionaire has already outgrossed by over 40% Goodbye Mr Loser,...

Sorcery and delusions of power are the dominant themes of “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings,” the third and most spectacular of the Chinese franchise about a real-life sleuth of the Tang dynasty. This time the hero uncovers a court conspiracy in which conjurers of illusions play a deadly role, a pretext for director Tsui Hark to run amok with visual effects while slipping in his usual political innuendoes about Machiavellianism and mind-control. On the level of pure popcorn entertainment, there’s not a thing one can fault the 3D megabuster for, and it should steamroll other domestic competition in the summer domestic market while satisfying Tsui’s longtime followers.

At 68, the Hong Kong genre maestro’s childlike imagination and technical inventiveness seems inexhaustible. The script, co-written by Tsui with Chang Chialu, who also teamed up for the last two chapters of the franchise (“Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom...

First of all, who is Detective Dee? For those who don’t know him already, Dee Renjie was a magistrate in the Tang dynasty, a guarantor of the Tang Code, highly revered by Empress Wu Zetian for his logical nature and honesty. Later in history, his life inspired the fictional character of a crime-solving magistrate called Judge Dee in some historical “whodunit” novels, virtually unknown to the West if it wasn’t for Dutch diplomat and writer Robert van Gulik who – at the beginning of 1900 – picked up an old copy of the novels in a second hand shop and decided to rewrite his own version of the Chinese Detective. And here we are, the modern version of the popular Detective Dee is a true product of Orientalism and yet very appealing and intriguing.

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings will be released in UK cinemas 27 July, by Cine Asia

Director...

Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.The Monkey King 3: Land of BeautyThis year’s Lunar New Year week was the biggest ever, almost doubling the box office take from last year, with grosses over 850 million American dollars. Traditionally the busiest movie-going time in the Chinese-speaking world, packed with crowd-pleasing star vehicles, this year’s holiday was dominated by four major releases, each of which was also released in North America.1 Three sequels opened here on February 16th, The Monkey King 3, Monster Hunt 2 and Detective Chinatown 2, while Operation Red Sea opened the following Friday, February 23rd. While none of the four has had the impact stateside of The Mermaid’s historic run two New Years ago, they’ve all proven to be hits at home. Soi Cheang’s Monkey King sequel opened first,...