This coming 28 January, it will be 'bye-bye Year of the Monkey' and 'say hello to the Year of the Rooster'. Likewise, Chinese New Year (CNY) is that time of the year where families, relatives and friends get together. Besides the usual door-to-door gathering, this festive season is also a great time to catch all the Chinese New Year movies at cinemas. From action to comedy as well as fantasy and drama, here is the list of 10 movies to watch this Chinese New Year.
From "Armour Of God" (1986) to "CZ12" (2012), Jackie Chan is no stranger to playing an archaeologist/adventurer role throughout his illustrious career. This year, he's back with the familiar role in "Kung Fu Yoga". Here, he plays Jack, a Chinese archaeologist professor who join forces with two Indian professors, Ashmita (Amyra Dastur) and Kyra (Disha Patani), to seek the lost Magadha treasure. "Kung Fu Yoga" features the usual action-comedy hijinks you've come to expect from a Jackie Chan movie. Then there's the much-talked about "lion-in-the-car" chase scene that got the Chinese social media buzzing. But best of all, it's nice to see Jackie reunite with veteran director Stanley Tong. After all, Jackie and Stanley are best known for collaborating in some of the most beloved Hong Kong movies of the 90s including "Police Story 3: Supercop" (1992), "Rumble In The Bronx" (1995) and "Police Story 4: First Strike" (1996).
While the usual CNY movie offerings are typically all fun-filled entertainment, "New Year Wish" presents something that tugs at your heartstrings. From the look of the trailer so far, this locally-made drama offers a "Touched By An Angel"-like supernatural twist with relatable themes of family values and friendship.
Chinese New Year is always fun whenever there's a Stephen Chow movie released in cinemas. This time, it is the long-awaited sequel to his 2013 "Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons". Picking up where the first movie left off, the second movie sees Tang Monk (Kris Wu) alongside his three disciples (among them is Sun Wukong/Monkey King, played by Lin Gengxin), embark on a treacherous journey to the West. Although Stephen Chow is only credited as the writer and producer of this sequel, the movie is seemingly in the safe hands of director Tsui Hark. Judging by the trailers released so far, this is going to be a spectacular fantasy adventure with lots of huge CGI moments and gravity-defying action scenes. Coupled with Stephen's signature "mo lei tau" comedy offering, "Journey To The West 2: The Demons Strike Back" is definitely a movie not to be missed.
This Singaporean comedy marks the first time that Christopher Lee, Mark Lee and Li Nanxing have worked together. "The Fortune Handbook" features the normally dramatic actor, Li Nanxing, play a comedy role for a change. Then there's veteran comedian Mark Lee, who is ideally cast as the God Of Fortune.
It was just a matter of time for Hong Kong TV and radio personality-turned-actor Bob Lam to finally get his first starring role. This Hong Kong comedy, like its literal Cantonese title which reads, "I Want To Be Rich", says it all. Bob Lam is no stranger to comedy, having appeared in popular TVB series alongside Roger Kwok in "Inbound Troubles" (2013) and Wong Cho-Lam in "Gilded Chopsticks" (2014) as well as movies such as "Hello Babies" (2014) and "Delete My Love" (2014).
With a cast of familiar faces including Singaporean comedian Henry Thia and Malaysia's veteran actress Lai Meng, expect a healthy dose of laughter and drama in "Money Money Home".
Valentine's Day comes early with "52Hz, I Love You", a Taiwanese romantic comedy inspired by the 52Hz "world's loneliest whale" creature. Combining music and the universal theme of love in the time of loneliness, "52Hz, I Love You" also marks the highly-anticipated return of acclaimed Taiwanese director Wei Te-Sheng since "Cape No. 7" (2007) and "Seediq Bale" (2011).
Food brings people together this Chinese New Year, right? Just ask Nicholas Tse and Jung Yong-Hwa in this fast-paced delicious dramedy about two masterful chefs competing at a prestigious culinary competition. Featuring much close-ups of food (and of the hunky actors as well), this movie is sure to get you rooting for either Nicholas's Cantonese street cook or Yong-hwa's French-trained Michelin-starred chef as you root for the winner.
Once upon a time, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng were the perfect on-screen couple that dominated the Hong Kong romantic comedy genre in the early 2000s, including "Needing You..." and "Love On A Diet". Fast-forward to 2017, the once-reigning queen of romantic comedies is back with "Love Contractually". Except this time around, her male co-star is Taiwanese actor Joseph Chang ("Wild City", "Sky On Fire"). This would be their first time working together, but all eyes are on Sammi Cheng since "Love Contractually" marks her much-anticipated comeback to the romantic comedy genre in years.