Credits : AsianPopcorn

Another Hollywood remake of a Hong Kong hit was announced Monday as Jackie Chan's JCE Movies Ltd. sold the rights to action-comedy "Enter the Phoenix" to Flashpoint Entertainment, producers of "The Bourne Ultimatum."

Andrew Tennenbaum will produce the remake of the 2004 original, according to a statement from L.A.-based Flashpoint. "This is my first Asian film remake and I couldn't be more excited," Tennenbaum said. Last year, "The Departed," a remake of Hong Kong box office winner "Infernal Affairs," won four Oscars, including best picture and best director for helmer Martin Scorsese.

Financial details of the "Phoenix" deal, brokered with help from the Shanghai office of the William Morris Agency, were not disclosed.

The original "Phoenix," produced by Chan, Albert Yeung and Willie Chan and sold internationally by Emperor Motion Pictures (Chan's joint venture partner in JCE), was directed and co-written by its star, Stephen Fung.

"Stephen tells a great story and has a terrific sense of humor," Tennenbaum said. "This movie should be remade for a bigger, broader audience."

The Cantonese-language original was Fung's directorial debut. The plot centers on the gay son of a boss whose dying wish is that he take over the family business.

Tennenbaum, whose credits include "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy," is meeting with writers and directors to create the adaptation.

This post has been edited by d0ggiel0ver: May 30 2007 6 10 PM

enter the phoenix is a great movie. if the goal of the hollywood producers though is to get the oscar success of the departed, i doubt if this story would. it's a semi-action-semi comedy and hardly any drama..

i wonder who'll play daniel wu's role? come to think of it, all the cast of the original was great (eason, stephen & daniel) and it would hardfor me not to compare their hollywood counterparts

I love the bourne series-- so this HW producer is no slouch--he'll try to do a good adaptation.

when he said-- they'll have to make it--broder- it means what will be understandable to most American, - middle America-- why often-- a lot can be lost to these adaptations-- America is just so huge-- with so many races & ethnicities.and there's where the biggest box office are.

anyway, bet-- Jackie got paid a huge chunk of change for this.

I havn't seen enter the phoenix before but since it is coming to Hollywood I am going to check it out before I watch the remake.

I agree Jackie probably got lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for this. He is so rich.

ive seen Enter the Phoenix, and although it does have some funny bits in it, its not actually that great a movie, so im surprised to hear that hollywood have purchased the rights to remake this film.

especially when the funniest bits are when Law Kar Ying is learning and trying to speak english, i dont think its gonna translate into an english movie very well.

i've seen enter the phoenix, and i enjoyed this movie.
however, i don't think that it's worthy enough to
be turned into a hollywood movie. Also
it just wouldnt be the same, the cast
of the original was amazing =].

why have americans always to remake european and chinese movies? the originals are the best!

enter the phoenix is ok, didn't think the american industry would like it so much. But yeah americans are buying chinese movie plots all over the place. Hope it draws more attention to hk films.

Enter the phoenix is a good movie but its focused on comedy...duno how the hollywood are going to remake this but I prefer the HK cast they made it all the much better

i hate it when they do that and they don't give proper credits!!!

oh man this would be interesting. i'm not sure how they're going to make this into an american film. wish them best of luck with that. i really liked this movie. there was a lot of randomness and funny scenes, i enjoyed this movie a lot. hope the american one will be just as great.

i agree with you
i hate it also when i read this , thats so stupid that they remake it
after that people only know the version of the holywood and think its the original and think hk have remake it

what.. No way they would want the film enter the pheonix. Watched it when it came out. Funny but I don't really like the film. I wonder if they can improve it

oh brother-- these sort of comments are becoming to be a real bore!

as it is hollywood union rules-- that proper credit is given to the source & original material-- which it hs done with all the films-- hollywood hve remade.

THE BEST PUBLICITY INFERNAL AFFAIRS HAS EVER GOTTEN IS-- IT WAS REMADE BY HOLLYWOOD INTO THE DEPARTED. AND IF ANYONE HAS REALLY WATCH IT-- YOU WILL SEE IA WAS GIVEN A FULL SCREEN CREDIT IN END CREDITS.

WHAT IS MORE HOLLYWOOD DOES PAY FOR THE RIGHTS FOR THESE REMAKES.

now, I ask-- HOW MANY DOES HK DO THEIR OWN VERSIONS OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIES?

JUST RECENTLY-- IT WAS BEING ANNOUNCED-- CHINESE VERSION OF MR & MRS SMITH????

PROTEGE' FROM TRAFFIC?

IT GOPES BOTH WAYS! & HK DOESN'T PAY A CENT TO HOLLYWOOD- THEY CHANGE THE STORY LINE JUST SO-- SO THEY DON'T PAY-- SO WHOSE STEALING IDEAS,THEN?

EVEN INFERNAL AFFAIRS WAS 'INSPIRED' BY SEVERAL HW FILMS! HEAT, INTERNAL AFFAIRS, GODFATHER TRILOGY ETC.

THE ONLY THING ORIGINAL ABOUT IT-- WAS ADDING THAT BUDDHIST SLANT.

SO LET'S GET REAL-- WITHOUT HOLLYWOOD-- THERE WON'T BE -MODERN HK CINEMA.

Wow, I can't believe they're going to remake Enter the Phoenix. Personally, I don't think it's that good to be remade. It was funny, but it was alright. I guess Hollywood wants to remake other genres or movies now.

Very funny, HK always rips off Hollywood with knockoff remakes, now Hollywood is "paying" HK for flicks. I think the industry can survive on Hollywood paying them for rights to remake their flicks alone.

Wow, couldn't have said any better. What you said are so true. At least Hollywood paid for the rights of whatever movie/novel they remake. I don't see HK or other countries who actually STEAL the idea of Hollywood movie and pay the rights for it.

thank you-- at least some of you do understand what I am talking about.

HOLLYWOOD FILM INDUSTRY IS DRIVEN BY UNIONS-- & ANY MATERIAL IT USES HAS TO BE HONOURED-- OR ELSE THE HW FILM MAKERS CAN BE SUED.

SO ALL THESE NONESENSE-- HW MAKES HK FILMS & NOT GIVEN CREdiT-- IS TOTALLY FALSE.

I'VE SEEN ALMOST ALL THE DEPARTED PR -- & THEY ALL MENTIONED IT CAME FROM HK'S INFERNAL AFFAIRS-- WHAT BETTER PUBLICITY IS THAT FOR A LITTLE KNOWN(IN US & EUROPE) HK FILM?


and to drive my point home: JOHN WOO IS KNOWN TO HAVE CHANGED THE FACE OF HK FILMS-- WITH HIS HEROIC BLOODBATH FINALE SCENES-- & WHERE DO YOU THINK HE GOT THAT FROM???

HOLLYWOOD! THE FILMS OF SAM PECKINPAH-- circa late 60's- early 70's-- STRAW DOGS, WILD BUNCH, THE GETAWAY( original version w/ steve mc queen & ali mac graw) that's where Woo got those ideas from.

even his film Once A thief-- w/ Leslie & chow-- the title came from a HW film 1964 with Alain Delon & Ann-Magret.

BET JACKIE IS SO DAMN HAPPY --HW BOUGHT HIS MOVIE AS HE MADE A LOT OF MONEY FROM THIS DEAL-.

This is another huge step for Hong Kong entertainment, however, I feel that the remakes always lack from the original, specifically The Departed... Andy Lau's role in Infernal Affairs was much better, a more high class person where as his equal in the departed was a jerk to say the least.

aaaw, after the remake they are going to forget the Hong Kong version, This is acutally a great movie, i love it!!!! i saw it a couple a days ago. i 've acutally watch this atleast 6 times or something, hahha some comments are just to funny :P

wow another remake..hollywood is now looking to hk for inspiration after the success of the departed

The best part of this movie was Law Kar Ying in the toilet. They definitely need to remake that scene rofl.

MATT DAMON-- A JERK??? DON'T THINK SO.. AS HE'S THE ONE WHO PLAYED THE ANDY LAU ROLE OF MING- AS COLIN SULLIVAN IN DEPARTED!

MATT DAMON- :- who co-wrote-- GOOD WILL HUNTING WITH HIS CHILDHOOD PAL- Ben Affleck & won Oscar for it.

who made his screen debut' in THE RAIN MAKER' directed by Francis Coppola.and this got him on the cover of Vanity Fair.as the new great talent to watch.

also starred in TALENTED MR RIPLEY-- A FILM ABOUT DUALITY.

BOURNE IDENTITY & BOURNE SUPREMACY-- & nother bourne film on the way.

recently starred in THE GOOD SHEPHERD directed by robert deNiro w/ Angelina Jolie as his wife-- about t he birth of the CIA.

for fun-- the Ocean's 13 franchise.

this guy never stopped working since he started.And he's only in his 30's and he's worked with some of the very best directors in the business.

SO A JERK?! WE SHOULD ALL BE JERKS LIKE HIM!

YEAH.. I'VE SEEN IA TRILOGY LOTS OF TIMES-- SAME WITH DEPARTED-- & FOR MY MONEY-- I FIND DEPARTED MORE SUPERIOR AND COMPLETE THAN IA CAN EVER BE-- AS MONAHAN & SCORSESE CLEANED UP ALL THE PLOTHOLES, LOOSE ENDS, & ALL THE SUPERLOUS SCENES IA HAD-- AND THEY OPENED UP THE STORY, LAYERED UP THE CHARACTERS, ALL & ALL-- MADE A MORE RIVETING FILM. WHY, IT WON THE OSCARS IN THE MAJOR CATEGORIES-- BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, BEST DIRECTR, BEST PICTURE.


by the way-- Hong Kongh submitted Infernal Affairs for consideration in 2003-- for the best foreign film category-- IT DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE FIRST ROUND. WHY IT WAS NEVER A NOMINEE.and this happened before Brad pitt bought the rights to it.

so .. HONG KONMG SHOULD ALL THANK HIM & DEPARTED BEING MADE & DIRECTED BY MaRTIN SCORSESE-- otherwise, it will be just nother HK film gathering dust in the back rows at blockbuster.

this is what I say to all this griping about it! thre departed is the best publicity -- infernal has ever gotten!

Enter the Pheonix was pretty good, I don't think the remake will be that good though..
I'm still loking forward to it though.

This post has been edited by lala.jen: Jun 1 2007 12 03 PM

FILM BUFF, I think what larrymoocow meant by the jerk part is that he/she thought that the chraracter was a jerk and not the actor himself. I haven't seen the remake yet but I also thought that the character was a little too rough as compared to the character in the original verison.

I love "Enter The Phoenix"! It's such a great show but I'm not sure American audience will like it because it's full of undertones and subtlety. Daniel and Stephen did great in the show, hopefully the actors chosen for the remake will be as great also!

This post has been edited by blue maniac: Jun 1 2007 2 45 PM

thanks for explaining. but that character colin sullivan is actually very complex.ah, I watched Departed-- so many times-- & ready nit-picked it for any flaws.first of all-- the character of colin is finely drawn by william monahan-- clearer than Ming was ever written in IA. the way Matt Damon played him is equally very subtle-- but all the nuances are there--the Leo part of billy is showier & let's face it having Leo play him--it''s so easy to dismiss Damon playing colin as 'wet' but all the character changes are there--if not more-- way Ming was.

also remember-- the backdrop of DEPARTED is south boston-- in other words --rough Irish decent americans-- & Colin was an orphan adopted early on by Sam character of Costello-- played by Jack nicholson--a fact not enterely clear in IA trilogy--nyway, Scorsese opting to have the 2 main characters play their younger selves-- makes this film tighter.And more in character to their behaviour & gave it a cohesive drama

the thing with IA--to accommodate the age of Andy & tony-- as they were already in their 40's-- they had to use younger actors for the prologue-- it messed up the continuity..

wah so many remakes of chinese films!!!! hope ppl get recognisiton and the orginals get noticed too! =D

this is what I will make very clear-- it is HOLLYWOOD UNION RULE-- ANY SOURCE MATERIAL-- MAY IT BE BOOK, NOVEL, TV, SHORT STORY, IDEA, ANOTHER FILM IN ANY LANGUAGE-- GIVEN CREDIT ( & PAID FOR THE RIGHTS) IN THE ACTUAL FILM.. OTHERWISE, THE PRODUCERS & THE ACTUAL FILM COMPANY-- CAN BE SUED.FOR MILLIONS!

SO ALL THIS HARPING-- NOT BEING GIVEN CREDIT & BEING RECOGNISED IS REDUNDANT.AND TOTALLY UNNECESSARY.

hmmm... i guess i'm getting mixed feelings about this. yes i'm happy and all, but it's not really fair that an American director gets recognized more for a remake, than the original HK director for the original... but i guess it's because of HK's economy? of course things will get more recognition in the US than in an Asian country right? i dunno... looking forward to it though ^^

This post has been edited by Lil_Stranger: Jun 1 2007 10 37 PM

if you look carefully at t he end credits of DEPARTED-- total recognition was GIVEN TO INFERNAL AFFAIRS-- WH SAID DIRECTED BY ANDREW LAU THEN WRITERS ETC FROM A HK FILM INFERNAL AFFAIRS.

IF YOU ARE NOT AWARE? THIS IS TOTALLY UNPRECEDENTED-- & RARELY DONE. WARNER'S & SCORSESE WENT ALL OUT & EVEN BENT OVER BACKWARDS TO DO THIS-TO GIVE IA, & DIRECTOR A MENTION.

still these complaints.

usually-- in a credit-- all you will get is.. based on etc. etxc.. name & writer. that's it.
the director is rarely mentioned.unless he w rote the mterial.

i saw dis movie before i was kinda .. weird? why does hollywood keep on remaking our movies? departed den dis..wad else..cant dey create anymore ideas for movies?!

HOLLYWOOD CAN ALSO ASK THE SAME QUESTION-- WHY IS HK CONSTANTLY REMAKING or doing a version of THEIR OWN MOVIES?!

and if people keep asking about this? COMPLAIN TO HK FILM MAKERS FOR SELLING THE RIGHTS OF THEIR FILMS TO HOLLYWOOD! ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS SAY-- NO! NO SALE-- END OF STORY.

WRITE A COMPLAINT TO MEDIA ASIA FOR SELLING IS-- & HERE TO JACKIE CHAN FOR SELLING THIS MOVIE.. EASY ENOUGH TO DO.

HELL.. THERE'S A HUGE MARKET OUT THERE-- i DON'T HEAR JAPAN OR KOREA COMPLAINING THE WAY CHINESE DO. WHICH IS RATHER IRONIC WHEN IT'S ALSO CHINESE TALENT WHO COMPLAINS THE MOST-- THERE ARE NO GOOD ROLES WRITTEN FOR CHINESE IN HOLLYWOOD.

AS FOR IDEAS FOR MOVIES? TO HOLLYWOOD-- HK FILMS BEING REMADE IS NOTHING BUT 1/2% IF THAT-- OF IT'S ANNUAL OUTPUT-- THIS IS STILL THE MECCA OF FILM MAKING-- AND AN AWFUL LOT OF FILMS ON MANY LEVELS ARE MADE IN HW/US ANNUALLY.


ACTUALLY, HK SHOULD BE HONOURED MARTIN SCORSESE DID HIS VERSION OF IA--HE'
S CONSIDERED ONE OF THE VERY BEST LIVING DIRECTORS-- AND HIS FILMS HAVE ALL ENTERED AMERICAN CULTURE.



and no disrespect to Andrew Lau-- but he has a long way to ever be on the same level as director to Scorsese-- he can learn from him.

if IA was made by a third rate Hw director -- I can see all the moaning-- but it's Scorsese! He's been making movies since the early 70's!

I liked this movie. I'm curious to see the HOllywood's version of this. Daniel and Eason were good in this.

OMG! I'm very surprised!