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The Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom, a martial arts film starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan, will premiere in China in April.

China’s top media group, Huayi Brothers, will donate a percentage of every movie ticket sold to The Forbidden Kingdom (Gongfu Zhi Wang) to Jet Li’s One Foundation.

Four theater chains, Beijing New Film Association, Stellar International, Shanghai United Circuit and Beijing Wanda, will donate 0.01 yuan from every ticket.

From this year, the “one ticket and 0.1 yuan donation” will be applied to all the Huayi productions and also films, which Huayi is the main investor.

The new $70 million martial arts film, which stars Li and Jackie Chan, will premiere in China and North America in April. The story follows an American boy’s kungfu dream, combining Chinese myths, martial arts and American humor. This is the first time that the two kungfu stars fight in one film.

Director of the Lion King, Rob Minkoff, directs. Academy Award-winning Peter Pau will also assist in the cinematographer, while Yuen Woo-ping is the choreographer.

Release Date:

Russia           17 April 2008 
Singapore     17 April 2008 
USA               18 April 2008 
Hong Kong    24 April 2008 
South Korea  24 April 2008 
France           25 June 2008 

The U.K. release date for the Forbidden Kingdom will be in July, according to a spokesperson from Lionsgate’s U.K. office.
 

Plot:
An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself traveling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King.

View trailers: apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/forbiddenkingdom/