General News

As part of the 20th anniversary of the hugely popular video game series, Street Fighter - a (new) live-action film version is now underway. The film kicked off last month and is officially titled: Street Fighter - The Legend of Chun Li. The last Street Fighter movie came out in 1994 and starred Jean-Claude Van Damme. Feeling we're all in need of a new film, the creative team has promised a roster of action film production veterans in order to bring a high quality film-version to the big screen.

Jason Statham is set to reprise his role as Frank Martin, an ex-Special Forces operative turned professional "transporter", who delivers packages without questions. Frank follows three simple rules: (1) Stick to the deal; (2) Don't ask names; and (3) Don't look in the packages he transports. The next installment to the 2002 and 2005 action films will start shooting next month for 16 weeks in Russia and France.

Legendary martial arts choreographer and film director, Yuen Woo-Ping, is preparing for a new, as yet untitled feature film for Edko Films in Hong Kong. Woo-Ping's screen credits include Kung Fu Hustle, Jet Li's Fearless, Kill Bill, Jackie Chan's Drunken Master, Jet Li's Tai Chi Master and countless others. He is an icon in Hong Kong action cinema and he has worked as an actor, director, producer, stuntman, and martial arts/action choreographer and director.

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios are set to launch the new Iron Man film, starring Robert Downey Jr., in theaters on May 2, 2008. The official trailer for the film is now available along with new images from production the set. The long-awaited comic book adaptation tells the story of Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity.

The Forbidden Kingdom, the new martial arts adventure film which marks the first on-screen pairing of martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li, is set to launch in theaters this spring. The movie trailer and movie posters (click links below) have been released. Director Rob Minkoff will be behind the camera while mega-action choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping (Matrix, Kung Fu Hustle, Kill Bill) will handle fight choreography. Jet Li and Jackie Chan have wanted to work together for more than 15 years

The Punisher franchise has seen Dolph Lundren speaking in unintelligible phrases and John Travolta getting dragged behind a car. Now, get ready for the third addition to the Marvel Comics’ most favorite one-man army series -- Punisher: War Zone. It promises to be an upgrade to the previous versions seen on the big screen and introduces British actor Ray Stevenson (most famous for playing Titus on the HBO series “Rome”) as the third—and darkest—Punisher

In the race to make video game characters as convincing as possible, a few companies have taken it one step further. Instead of using real live individuals purely for motion-capture, they are also using them for their acting skills. The actors go through a casting, rehearsal, scene blocking and acting process, just as they would any other film or television project. This type of process is typically unheard of in video game creation, but a few companies

Kung Fu will be included for the first time in the Olympics as a discipline on demonstration. Last month, the vice-president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, announced that wushu -- as kung fu is known in China -- will be showcased at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and predicted this could have "extremely significant implications" for it eventually becoming an Olympic sport. However, the world’s most respected kung fu practitioners, the Shaolin Temple fighting monks, will not take part in the wushu events.

The speculation earlier this year about Jet Li joining the cast of The Mummy 3 has been confirmed, and production is full speed ahead on the film, officially titled: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. As the action shifts to China, this latest installment has a decidedly Asian-action genre feel to it. Certainly the addition of Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh (Memoirs of a Geisha, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) Russell Wong, and 10,000 Terracotta Warriors has something

As we mentioned previously, a big screen adaptation of the 1970’s martial arts TV series Kung Fu, originally starring David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, is in the works. The film is now in pre-production and the hunt is on for the actor to play the new Caine.

We’ve been making some improvements to Martial Arts Talent to enhance the functionality and usefulness of the site for all of you. Here are a few of the newest updates.

China's national broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), is producing 40-part television series called The Legend of Bruce Lee on the life of Bruce Lee. The teaser poster for the project has recently been revealed.

In late April, Midway Games Inc. announced a video submission contest in association with John Woo and his new action-oriented video game, Stranglehold. Hosted exclusively on MySpace and promoted across other Fox Interactive Media properties, the Stranglehold's True to John Woo

Producer Mark Burnett, best known for top hit series Survivor and the Apprentice, has teamed up with mixed martial arts company ProElite Inc. to develop a primetime reality series involving mixed martial arts.

David Mamet has written and will direct a new mixed martial arts drama for Sony Pictures Classics. Redbelt is the story of Mike Terry, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a Jiu-jitsu master who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing to instead pursue a life of honor and education

The Hong Kong martial arts film starring Donnie Yen that made a hit in 2006 will soon be coming to the small screen in the form of a new television series. Dragon Tiger Gate is based on the popular Hong Kong comic book, Oriental Heroes, which bears the same Chinese name as the movie. Now, casting is underway for Dragon

The film which marks the first onscreen pairing of martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li will start shooting in Beijing on May 7th. The $70 million English language film formerly known as the “J&J Project” will be called "The Forbidden Kingdom."

Remember the short-lived TV show which introduced Bruce Lee to American audiences as the trustworthy, crime-fighting side-kick Kato? The series starred Van Williams as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet and debuted on ABC in 1966. Columbia Pictures has now optioned the rights to The Green Hornet

The third installment of the Mummy series has a new direction, a new director and a new cast. It seems Rob Cohen (Fast & The Furious, Stealth) is set to helm the film, taking the reins from the previous director Stephen Sommers. The biggest surprise is that Jet Li may come onboard

After the wildly successful and much darker portrayal of Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego in the 2005 prequel Batman Begins, the sequel is set to start filming in April of this year. The next film, called The Dark Knight, will be helmed by director