The End Is Nigh

• Twitch reports the possible end of Variety Asia

Japan Box-Office 2008

• Ponyo On A Cliff By The Sea was tops at home last year

• Jason Gray scrutinises the list at Screen Daily

Stephen Chow Heads West

• There's proof Stephen Chow is going ahead with Journey To The West, according to Monkeypeaches (frustrating thing about that site, no permalink)

Red Cliff Tops In Korea

• Red Cliff 2 continues to blaze through Asian box-office

Historical Humour

• Kong Rithdee in Bangkok Post reviews Blue Sky Of Love, which he calls a product of total ignorance

• The trailer gave Wisekwai a headache

Movie Disease

• Mark Schilling in Japan Times takes a look at Kansen Retto (Pandemic), the latest disaster pic from Japan

Big B Clears The Air

• Amitabh Bachchan says Slumdog Millionaire comments were misunderstood

Windy Movie

• Huayi Brothers' Sound Of Wind, starring Zhou Xun and Zhang Hanyu, to start production soon

Ip Man On DVD And Blu-ray

• Twitch reports that Ip Man will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on Feb 13 in Hong Kong

Movie Music

• Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra will present the music of Joe Hisaishi

Supermodel Time Travels

• Lin Chiling to star in Jay Chou time-travel movie

Lunar Neo Year

• A Nutshell Review scrutinises Jack Neo's Love Matters

Film Ratings Finally

• A proposal for a film ratings system in China finally appears

More Awards

• The Good, The Bad, The Weird leads Asian Film Awards nominations

• Meanwhile, more Asian films for Berlinale's Forum

Big In Japan

• Medical thriller Pandemic (Kansen Retto) knocks Pixar off the Wall-E

• Miike Takashi's Crows Zero 2 and Takita Yojiro's Sanpei The Fisherman will premier at Yubari

Awards

• Japan's Departures nabs Best Feature at Palm Springs

• John Rabe, a film about the Nanking Massacre, co-produced with, among others, Beijing's Huayi Brothers, wins big in Germany's Bavarian

Big Bad Wolf Does Big Business

• Local animated film Pleasant Goat And Big Big Wolf off to a great start in China

Big B Slams Slumdog

• Amitabh Bachchan dislikes Slumdog Millionaire, but lauds A.R. Rahman's win

Chandni Chowk Bad News

• Chandni Chowk To China gets thumbs down from critics

Chandni Chowk 2 Being Planned

• Having just had its release worldwide, it's been revealed that there are already plans for a sequel to Chandni Chowk To China

• Mark Schilling reviews Zen and finds it a little disappointing

Cycling Comedy

• Ning Hao of Crazy Stone fame offers Chinese New Year comedy, Silver Medallist

First Glimpse Of Jackie

• Twitch points us to the first glimpse of Jackie Chan in Shinjuku Incident

• While Yahoo News has this bit about Miyazaki saying he can't stand modern animation

Japan's Oscar Bid

• Takita Yojiro's Departures is among the nine films vying for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars

Upcoming Thai Films This Year

• Here's a rundown from the ever vigilant Wisekwai

China In 3D

• China to release first ever 3D animated film

Little Orphan Kati

• Wisekwai reviews The Happiness Of Kati and finds it a bit dull

Bolly Goes Globes

• Shah Rukh Khan will be one of the awards presenters at the Golden Globes

• Chandni Chowk To China will have the biggest ever US opening starting Jan 16

Get Political

• Singapore will amend Film Act to allow "certain types" of party political films

Ip Man Sequel

• Variety Asia reports that Ip Man 2 is a go

Mysterious Thai Film

• Wisekwai points to a mysterious collaboration between Wisit Sasanatieng and Nonzee Nimibutr, that happened long ago, but the film was seized by the studio for debts unpaid

Andy Lau - Ancient Sherlock Holmes

• The Hollywood Reporter says Tsui Hark's next film is a period detective yarn starring Andy Lau

Gong Li and Jim Carrey

• Gong Li is set to star opposite Jim Carrey in an upcoming comedy

• Far East Films says it's a biopic called Believe It Or Not, about Robert Ripley, to be directed by Chris Columbus

Hong Kong Top Films Of 2008

• CJ7 tops the list of highest grossers of 2008 in Hong Kong

Red Cliff Goes West

• John Woo has finished editing the international cut of Red Cliff for western audiences

No Naughty Stuff

• Sina.com among portals and sites determined to be "problematic" in China government's anti-pornography campaign

What's Up, Singapore?

• A Nutshell Review gives a rundown (with trailers and clips) of the Singaporean films of 2009

Korean Vamp

• Here's a short news report on Korean TV about Park Chan-wook's new vampire flick, Thirst.

• Twitch has some stills

Bloody Poster

• CYWorld has snapshots of the poster for Blood: The Last Vampire, starring Korean actress Jeon Ji-hyeon

• And looks like Edison Chen's Sniper, his post-sexy time scandal movie, will finally be released on Easter this year, except in China, that is

• And a bit late this, but anyway, Ashes Of Time Redux R1 DVD to be released in March

My Name Is Khan

• Ghajini becomes the only Indian film to earn one billion rupees at the box office across the country in less than a week of its release

• OneIndia earlier report that some of the Muslim crew members of Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan have been denied US visas for the shoot in Los Angeles

Japanese Cinema 2009

• Mark Schilling of Japan Times looks at what's coming up in Japanese cinema in 2009