Jacob Chang's 10-years of hardwork production A Battle of Wits had been screening for 4 days and it collected $5.7 million and $21 million in the box office in Hong Kong and Mainland China respectively. Meanwhile, a scriptwriter from Hunan named Lee Shu-xin held a press conference to exclaim that Jacob had infringed his A Battle of Wits script copyright.
Lee expressed that in August 1998, Jacob invited him to make changes to the script of A Battle of Wits which he re-wrote the script before passing part 1 and part 2 of the scripts to Jacob in April 1999. Lee said that his name was not listed among the credits of the movie thus infringed his copyright, his lawyer exclaimed that they had filed a lawsuit to request compensation according to the box office collection and an apology from Jacob.
However, when reporters from Mainland China rectified the matter with Jacob, he expressed that he indeed invite Lee to draft the first and second dialogue of the characters but the script was not approved by the movie's investors. Jacob approached another person for help which also failed to get approval from the investors, with his copyright purchased from Japanese side expiring soon, he personally re-wrote the script before finding investors to invest in the movie. On the opening credits of the movie, Jacob was credited as the director and scriptwriter, whereas in the ending credits, Lee's name was listed in the script production team with another 2 scriptwriters.
When Sundream Motion Pictures was contacted, they expressed that Jacob would not harm anyone and would not allow people chances of seizing the opportunity, but he would like the people whom had helped him throughout these 10 years.
Andy Lau who was currently in Beijing preparing for Peter Chan's The Blood Brothers re-make was delighted as he exclaimed that his efforts are not wasted.
Andy liked the 'Mo Gong' manga and admired the "universal love" theme character Ge Li. He said: "If director Jacob had bring the script to me earlier, I would have invested in the movie, maybe the movie would have been completely different." As the movie only translate one third of the manga, the original manga still has many developments in the later parts, Andy added that with the good box office collection of A Battle of Wits, he is prepared to invest to shoot a sequel. However, with the current ending, if there's a sequel, hugh changes would be needed and it would be difficult.
Andy's character is a loner, a made-up character to protect Liang City during the 7 kingdoms wars. Being brave and upright, female general Fan Bingbing fall in love with him. Both of them know each other better during war time, there's even a scene that Fan Bingbing willing to remove her clothes to declare her love to Andy, however it fails to moved Andy whom has a patriotic heart.
In the movie, Andy also discard his usual handsome looks as he appeared rugged in the battlefields, he also acted in water under extreme cold temperature, he totally does not have any intimate scenes with Fan Bingbing, it's considered to be tough and unfortunate.
Andy is considered a super idol as he still looked handsome despite rugged dressed, with less scenes together with Fan Bingbing, thus reduce the chances of arising any allegations. As Andy working hard in water and fire, with the good box office collection, it proves that allegation is not needed to promote a movie.
news from: Wei Wen Po, Min Sang Po, Taiwan's Apple Daily News, Sina.com
Lee expressed that in August 1998, Jacob invited him to make changes to the script of A Battle of Wits which he re-wrote the script before passing part 1 and part 2 of the scripts to Jacob in April 1999. Lee said that his name was not listed among the credits of the movie thus infringed his copyright, his lawyer exclaimed that they had filed a lawsuit to request compensation according to the box office collection and an apology from Jacob.
However, when reporters from Mainland China rectified the matter with Jacob, he expressed that he indeed invite Lee to draft the first and second dialogue of the characters but the script was not approved by the movie's investors. Jacob approached another person for help which also failed to get approval from the investors, with his copyright purchased from Japanese side expiring soon, he personally re-wrote the script before finding investors to invest in the movie. On the opening credits of the movie, Jacob was credited as the director and scriptwriter, whereas in the ending credits, Lee's name was listed in the script production team with another 2 scriptwriters.
When Sundream Motion Pictures was contacted, they expressed that Jacob would not harm anyone and would not allow people chances of seizing the opportunity, but he would like the people whom had helped him throughout these 10 years.
Andy Lau who was currently in Beijing preparing for Peter Chan's The Blood Brothers re-make was delighted as he exclaimed that his efforts are not wasted.
Andy liked the 'Mo Gong' manga and admired the "universal love" theme character Ge Li. He said: "If director Jacob had bring the script to me earlier, I would have invested in the movie, maybe the movie would have been completely different." As the movie only translate one third of the manga, the original manga still has many developments in the later parts, Andy added that with the good box office collection of A Battle of Wits, he is prepared to invest to shoot a sequel. However, with the current ending, if there's a sequel, hugh changes would be needed and it would be difficult.
Andy's character is a loner, a made-up character to protect Liang City during the 7 kingdoms wars. Being brave and upright, female general Fan Bingbing fall in love with him. Both of them know each other better during war time, there's even a scene that Fan Bingbing willing to remove her clothes to declare her love to Andy, however it fails to moved Andy whom has a patriotic heart.
In the movie, Andy also discard his usual handsome looks as he appeared rugged in the battlefields, he also acted in water under extreme cold temperature, he totally does not have any intimate scenes with Fan Bingbing, it's considered to be tough and unfortunate.
Andy is considered a super idol as he still looked handsome despite rugged dressed, with less scenes together with Fan Bingbing, thus reduce the chances of arising any allegations. As Andy working hard in water and fire, with the good box office collection, it proves that allegation is not needed to promote a movie.
news from: Wei Wen Po, Min Sang Po, Taiwan's Apple Daily News, Sina.com
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