Asian blockbusters and more for 2018

FRESH from its acquisition of Cathay cineplexes last month, mm2 announced an eclectic slate of Asian titles it will be releasing in the first two months of the new year.

The homegrown film production and distribution company, which recently added cinema operations to its business, is set to kick off 2018 with Chen Kaige's Legend Of The Demon Cat (Jan 4).

The blockbuster epic fantasy is adapted from Japanese writer Yoneyama Mineo's novel Samana Kukai, and is one of Mainland China's most expensive movies to date.

Five years in the making, Legend Of The Demon Cat's budget reportedly cost US$200m, and there are plans to turn the film's set into a theme park.

Indonesia's highest-grossing film of 2017, Pengabdi Setan (Satan's Slaves), will follow on Jan 18.

Domestically, the horror flick is the country's all-time fourth highest-grossing movie, and it won seven awards at the Indonesian Film Festival Awards this year.

Director Joko Anwar is known for switching genres in his career as a filmmaker and writer, but critics and audiences are hailing Pengabdi Setan as his best work to date.

mm2 will wrap the month with Shuttle Life (Jan 25), which stars screen veteran Sylvia Chang.

The highly-acclaimed Malaysian drama has been touring the festival circuit and scooping awards along the way. It was also shown at this year's Singapore International Film Festival.

In what has become an annual Chinese New Year tradition, local funnyman Jack Neo has a new work lined up for the festive season.

For a change, he will also be appearing in front of the camera as he slips into aunty-mode and resurrects one of his best-loved television characters from the nineties for Wonderful! Liang Xi Mei (Feb 15).

It has been awhile since Neo has cross-dressed for a role, and he will be joined by his regular collaborators and fellow local comedians Mark Lee, Henry Thia and Wang Lei for this nostalgic feel-good outing.

Also slated for February is Detective Chinatown 2, the sequel to one of Mainland China's highest-grossing movie of 2015.

The buddy comedy reunites director Chen Sicheng with Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran, but the action shifts from Bangkok in the original film to New York this time.