'HERO' OPENS STRONG IN ASIA
Zhang Yimou’s Chinese epic Hero continued its powerful run in the Asian markets over the weekend. Fox International had strong openings for Hero in Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. The movie opened at number one in all 3 countries. In Thailand the picture grossed $479,000 from 107 screens, while Malaysia yielded $192,000 from 48 screens. The 10-day cumulative score for the two markets plus Taiwan and Singapore now stands at $4.8m. Opening top of the table in Taiwan on Jan 18, the picture grossed $1.7m from 115 screens, making it the fifth highest opener of all time in the territory and Fox’s best ever bow. It was also the industry’s highest ever opening for a Chinese film, around 40% more than the previous best set by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In Singapore Hero’s Jan 16 bow took it straight to number one on $644,277 from 42 theatres, and a gross of $982,000 in 3 days. This was the highest ever opening for a Chinese picture, Fox’s fourth highest and the best ever January opening in the territory

Hero out of Oscar race?
HAS Miramax killed Hero's chances of winning an Oscar?

The wuxia movie has just lost the Foreign Film Golden Globe to Spanish movie Talk To Her, and rumours are rife that it might not even be in the running for an Academy Award, either.

A report in Boston's Weekly Dig, an online newspaper, says Miramax, the American distributor of Hero, has broken its promise to Chinese producers to help the film score an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Film.

Firstly, Miramax has not released the movie in the United States which is required for eligibility in the Oscar race. Secondly, it has not shown the film to the Academy, and reportedly sent it to the Golden Globe voters as an after-thought.

Rather, says the paper, it is promoting Italian movie Pinocchio, by Roberto Benigni, in the hope of repeating the Oscar success of Benigni's 1997 film, Life Is Beautiful.

Other Asian movies Miramax has bought but left on its shelf include Shaolin Soccer, The Accidental Spy, The Legend Of Zu and The Touch.

The Singaporean distributor of Hero, 20th Century Fox, was unable to verify the rumour.

Premise
"Before became the First Emperor of China, Ying Zheng (played by Cheng Daoming), King of the state of Qin, brutal and ruthless, was the target of many assassins. Among them, Can Jian (Broken Sword, played by Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), Fei Xue (Flying Snow, played by Maggie Cheung) and Liu Zhi Tie Shou (Six Finger Iron Hand) are the best. However, their plan was challenged by Ying Zheng's bodyguard Wu Yu (Silencer, played by Jet Li). He rarely spoke and no one knew what he was up to, but something was hidden behind this eyes. Three assassins fought their way into the king's place and were killed by Silencer in front of the king. He told the king his enemies had been wiped out but the king did not trust him. When Silencer finally start to fulfill his wish, killing the king, something more deadly was waiting for him ...
According to some insider, Jet Li decided to take the project and receiving a pay-cut mainly because of the character of Silencer, psychological and tragical. Cheng Daoming has replaced Jiang Wen as the king, later became the First Emperor. Interesting enough, both of them have played Pu Yi, the last emperor of China before. Jiang Wen played the last emperor in The Last Empress (1987) and the First Emperor in The Emperor's Shadow (1996). Cheng Daoming was the lead in TV series The Last Emperor. Zhang Ziyi will play a very minor role in the film, the maid of Broken Sword. She was secretly in love with her master and was willing to sacrifice her life for him. Her weapons are twin knives."