Chinese cinema master Zhang Yimou has ventured into science fiction with his adaptation of The Three-Party Problem.
Wang Changtian, founder and CEO of Enlighten Media, one of China’s three largest studios, made the announcement on Sunday at a panel at the Shanghai International Film Festival. Wang Zhang revealed that he is in the early stages of preparing for the film. “We hope that director Zhang Yimou will be able to make some new innovations and gain recognition in the international market by filming the novel content of ‘Three-Part Problem’,” Wang said. for the studio.
Great project and visionary director
The film adaptation of “The Three-Part Problem” is a milestone in the career of Zhang Yimou, who is known for his versatility in art films to comedy and martial arts. Among his main works are “Hero”, “House of Flying Mountains” and “Full Red River”. Zhang also performed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The book has been translated into nearly 30 languages for international consumption and has attracted millions of readers around the world. Earlier this year, Netflix released a big-budget English-language version of the trilogy, directed by “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, along with Alexander Wu. The adaptation is produced by Bighead Littlehead, Plan B Entertainment, Primitive Streak, T-Strateg and Chinese companies Yozoo Pictures and Sub-Body Universe.
Science fiction, a genre previously shunned by Chinese film regulators, has become a major box office genre, reflecting the advanced skill and technology level of China’s modern film industry. A good example is the 2019 film “Wandering Land,” directed by Fran Guo and adapted from the 2000 short story “The Trouble with Three Bodies” by author Liu Cixin. The film grossed RMB 4.69 billion ($651 million) at the Chinese box office, and a sequel in 2023 earned RMB 4.03 billion ($560 million).
direction and challenges
Zhang Yimou is one of China’s most prolific and successful directors, with a range of works ranging from cutting edge films to epic action spectacles. Part of the prestigious club whose films have grossed more than $1 billion, Zhang has received numerous lifetime achievement awards at major festivals and awards ceremonies in recent years. However, he shows no signs of slowing down and has put aside other duties such as screenwriting to focus on securing high marks as a director.
Liu Cixin’s novel “The Problem of the Three Elements” is intended to undercut the criticism of the Cultural Revolution period between 1966 and 1976, when intellectuals and bourgeois were marginalized and sent to the countryside to learn from the peasantry. The Netflix series debuted with a brutal scene in the Cultural Revolution that drew criticism in China, although the series has not officially aired there.
Several of Zhang’s films directly or indirectly address various issues of the still-mysterious Cultural Revolution. These include “Living” (also known as “Lives”), which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004, but was banned from theatrical release in China, and the 2014 romantic drama Homecoming. His drama “One Second”, based on the novel by Ian Gelling, was released in 1998. It was scheduled to be shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 2019, but was pulled at the last minute by Chinese authorities. It was later revised and released in 2020.
Zhang’s future projects
Among Zhang’s upcoming projects is “MGM2049”, a stage presentation and residence at the MGM Grand Casino Resort in Macau. This project adds to his already impressive body of work and confirms that Zhang remains an inexhaustible creative force in the film industry.
Zhang Yimou’s adaptation of “The Three-Part Problem” promises to be a fusion of talent and vision, hoping to capture one of the most popular works of modern science fiction, both domestically and internationally.