Insurgent

 

Jurassic World

 

One Minute More

 

Hollywood Adventures  Photos: CFP

With more than 20 films set for this month, June looks to be a time full of choices. Taking a look at this list, Hollywood blockbusters such as Tomorrowland, San Andreas, and Jurassic World, are definitely going to be major forces, while domestic films, mainly romance films and comedies, will most likely only serve as side dishes.

Sci-fi adventure

Having premiered on Tuesday, Tomorrowland is already in theaters where it will continue to occupy a large percentage of show times.

A Brad Bird directed film, Tommorrowland stars 25-year-old actress Brittany Robertson as tech-savvy teen Casey Newton and veteran actor George Clooney as pessimistic inventor Frank Walker. The two join forces to uncover the secrets of a place known as Tomorrowland.

The combination of an uncle-like middle-aged man and a young girl is nothing new to audiences, as we've seen a similar duo in Léon (1994). Yet, the story led by these new pals doesn't seem to be living up to expectations.      

Famous for films like The Iron Giant (1999) and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Bird's latest, however, has received only a 6.3 out of 10 score on film site IMBD.

Audience feedback in China hasn't been all that great either. 

"A promotional film for a ride at Disney's themepark, Pirates of the Caribbean was a good project which was able to carry out a double purpose, while Tomorrowland is like a sodden wet poop deck," Tie Ren, a Chinese film critic wrote on mt.sohu.com.

However, as recent reports have shown even critically panned blockbusters like Transformers 4 can bring in audiences in China. The producers for Tomorrowland may be happy to know that the film has already earned 69.48 million yuan ($11.2 million) at the box office in five days.

Living in one of the first batch of countries and regions to release Jurassic World on June 10, moviegoers in China are sure to be pumped up for this dinosaur packed adventure film.

Adapted from novel of the same name written by the late Michael Crichton, it's no exaggeration to say the Jurassic Park franchise is one of the most popular and astonishing film series in film history.

It will have been more than two decades since the first installment hit theaters in 1993 when Jurassic World hits next week. Growing along with the audience, the story of Jurassic World is set 22 years after Jurassic Park. While the story, human beings trying to survive after dinosaurs run rampant, can easily be predicted from trailers and seems to be a copy of the first film, it is precisely this excitement that seems to be attracting audiences, especially when the film is something the whole family can enjoy together.

 June 16 brings Insurgent, a sci-fi adventure film tailored for fans of Veronica Roth's Divergent series on novels. Similar to Hunger Games, Insurgent focuses on a teenage girl known as Beatrice Prior. She must fight with her inner demons to go against an alliance that threatens her society.

While the film's prequel, Divergent, earned $288 million globally, it's performance on the Chinese mainland last September was not that impressive due to a lack of a strong fan base.

Men of action

Set for June 2, the arrival of San Andreas is very likely to put pressure on Tomorrowland, even though San Andreas currently has a similar moderate score of 6.7/10 on IMDB.

Named for the San Andreas Fault, a well-known fault line behind many of California's earthquakes, the action-adventure disaster film tells the story of  Raymond 'Ray' Gaines (Dwayne Johnson), a rescue-chopper pilot, who must risk his own life to cross California to save his lost daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) after a massive state-wide earthquake.

San Andreas is not the first film about an earthquake. Similar works include Mark Robson's 1974 Earthquake and Roland Emmerich's 2009 film 2012. While the previous two left deep impressions on the disaster genre, it remains to be seen whether San Andreas will have the success.

At first glance the title Killing Season may cause you to shiver. An action thriller directed by Mark Steven Johnson, the film unites veteran actors Robert De Niro and John Travolta for the first time.

Unlike most action films which involve fights between young men, Killing Season features two retired soldiers, one from the US and the other from Serbia. Both Bosnian War veterans, the two become friends when they meet decades later. Yet after one reveals his true identity, their friendship turns tense and find themselves on opposite sides again.

Already released overseas two years ago, Killing Season, scheduled for June 16 on the mainland, is not a new film. Previous reviews indicate the film is a little disappointing.    

Sweet and salty side dishes



The latter part of June will see two domestic films using lighter and more relaxed tones to attract audience attention: One Minute More (June 19) and Hollywood Adventures (June 26). 

Appearing at this year's Beijing International Film Festival, lead actress Chun-Ning Chang and actor Peter Ho walked the event's red carpet with the little dog star from the film One Minute More. 

Adapted from a Japanese novel, One Minute More is like many Japanese "warmedies," which are tender and soothing to the soul. The unique hook of this film is that it views the whole story from the angle of a dog. 

Besides the story itself attracting a lot of female audiences and couples who do not mind to wiping away tears in a crowded theater, the popularity of the lead actor and actress is another guarantee for the film.

Like another comedy with a foreign name in the title like Lost in Thailand, Hollywood Adventures is actually a domestic production. It tells the story of three Chinese pursuing romance in Tinseltown. A place of dreams for many Chinese surrounded by Hollywood blockbusters and seldom have the opportunity to go there, seeing the name in the title may be just enough to get them to buy a ticket so they can get a closer look at Hollywood itself.

Though the name Timothy Kendall, the film's director, is relatively new to Chinese audiences, actors Zhao Wei, Huang Xiaoming, Tong Dawei are three of the most well-known names in China. This is sure to help the film's performance, especially when Hollywood stars like Sung Kang and Missi Pyle are also appearing in the film.