Hit pilot series gets film spin-off

Hong Kong - A movie spin-off from Triumph In The Skies is set for take-off, and Francis Ng and Julian Cheung, who play pilots in the hit TVB series, will face off on the big screen with a new addition to the cast - Louis Koo.

The title was one of seven unveiled by Media Asia, one of Hong Kong's biggest movie producers, at the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market on Monday, said Ming Pao Daily News.

Ng said he hoped to be reunited with the rest of the original cast, including Fala Chen, who plays the female pilot who charms both Ng's and Cheung's characters in the second season of the television show.

Noting that Chen is no longer a TVB artist, Ng said: "When the drama was shooting, Fala wasn't signed with TVB, but TVB still cast her as the lead."

One of the most promising and star-studded movies is Helios, a nuclear thriller starring Jacky Cheung, Nick Cheung and Shawn Yue from Hong Kong,

Chang Chen from Taiwan, and Ji Jin Hee and Super Junior singer Choi Si Won from South Korea. Sunny Luk and Longman Leung, who directed Cold War, the award-winning 2012 crime drama, helm the new film.

Two other titles involve Leon Lai, said Ming Pao. The pop star will make his directorial debut with Wine War, starring Zhang Hanyu and Du Juan, and also produce Monkey King Reloaded, a 3-D animated movie.

The other titles include a pair of romantic comedies, Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2, directed by Johnnie To and starring Koo, Vic Chou and Miriam Yeung, and Break Up 100, starring Ekin Cheng, Chrissie Chau and Ivana Wong.

All three Cheungs - Julian, Jacky and Nick - attended the Media Asia press conference, along with stars such as Ng, Koo, Yue, Chang, Lai, Chou and Cheng.

Nick Cheung joked about being hoodwinked by the directors of Helios, said Ming Pao.

Cheung - who has been the go-to guy for gritty action melodramas since 2010's The Stool Pigeon - said he had been told he would not have a fight scene in Helios. But in the end, he did two.

Jacky Cheung, who has no fight scenes in the movie, was asked if it was because he was too expensive. But the pop superstar said his film salary was less than a tenth of Nick Cheung's.

But for total income, the man to beat may be Koo. He was the most ubiquitous star on Monday, said Apple Daily, showing up at the film market for four movies: Triumph In The Skies; Don't Go Breaking My Heart; Aberdeen, a family drama directed by Pang Ho Cheung and co-starring Eric Tsang and Chapman To; and Z Storm, a financial fraud thriller co-starring Michael Wong and Gordon Lam.

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