The domestic movie market in the first half of this year was dominated by young and new directors in China. No matter if it was Xu Zheng’s “Lost in Thailand,” Zhao Wei with her “So Young” or Guo Jingming with his “Tiny Times,” new-generation directors earned a good reputation and big money with their popular productions.

    However, Chinese movie “big shots” are expected to make a grand return in the latter half of the year.

    Hong Kong director Tsui Hark and mainland director Feng Xiaogang will return to the screen with their latest productions in September, while other well-known directors, such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Jiang Wen, are all gearing up for a revival.

    John Woo started the cameras rolling on his new film “The Crossing” in Beijing at the beginning of July, and Feng earlier released trailer of his “Personal Tailor,” which is expected to be screened around Dec. 19. Tsui also released the trailer of his new film “Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon” recently and announced that the film would be open Sept. 28.

    Because of the “big movies,” certain popular actors/actresses have become in great demand.

    To suit Ge You’s schedule, Feng had to start his film ahead of schedule to make way for Ge shooting Jiang’s “Gone with the Bullets.”

    It is also said that both Jiang and Zhang want Gong Li to be their leading actresses, but who will win the competition is still unknown. Jiang’s company refused to comment on the rumor, saying that “all the casting affairs are confidential at the moment.”

    Although Chen has two projects in hand, it does not make his situation better than the others. He told the media earlier that he would start shooting the film about Japanese monk Kukai in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) first and the film would involve even bigger investment than his award-winning “Sacrifice.”

    Chen went to Xiangyang, Hubei Province, in mid-July to visit the movie production base which was expected to be finished in September, according to Chinese reports. However, the film may be postponed till next year as his ideal leading actress for the film, Yao Chen, recently gave birth to a son.

    Because of the delay, it is said that Chen is expected to start shooting the other project in November. The film tells a legendary story about a young Taoist in the period of the Republic of China who meets a lot of unexpected people and things, and becomes a master. Although Chen did not confirm the news, his team says Chen went to Jiangsu Province to check out the scenes. (Wang Yuanyuan)