OBEY MEDIA ASIA

Media Asia seems driven by some sick, inner need to be the biggest Chinese distributor in 2006. What's wrong with them? Were they beaten up a lot as a young studio?

Their slate for 2006 includes Feng Xiaogang's THE BANQUET, with Zhang Ziyi, Johnnie To's THE EXILED (his sequel to THE MISSION), as well as Miriam Yeung's just-release 2 BECOME 1, which did quite well in Hong Kong. And there's ISABELLA by Pang Ho-cheung, which will be released on April 6 and was the only Chinese film to win a major award at Berlin this year (a silver bear for "Best Score").

But they've also just announced that the INFERNAL AFFAIRS gang, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, will be heading up two projects for them. The first is BEHIND THE SIN, like INFERNAL AFFAIRS it's a Tony Leung Chiu-wai flick with a weak pun for a title, about a cop and a private investigator looking into the murder of the cop's father-in-law. Budgeted at US$7.7 million it's set to start shooting in May. Lau and Mak will also team up later this year for a Media Asia-produced gangster epic, set to begin in the 40's and span 30 years, about a trader who moves from China to HK and falls into a life of crime. It looks like super-star (and INITIAL D star) Jay Chou will star in this flick.

As if that hasn't proved that they're the biggest kid in the playground, Media Asia is also producing the next movie from Teddy Chen (WAIT TIL YOU'RE OLDER), a modern day martial arts flick about a bunch of monks. Budgeted at US$5 million they're looking to have a complete script by May and start shooting this year.

Media Asia also hopes to go back in time and reshape the Grand Canyon into their corporate logo, save small children and lost puppies at least twice a week, and they promise to use their powers only for good.