Taiwanese film Night Market Hero (雞排英雄) has continued an impressive run at the local box office, grossing more than NT$90 million (US$3.05 million) and setting itself up possibly as the next blockbuster hit following Monga (艋舺) and Cape No. 7 (海角七號).
Night Market Hero, the feature debut of director Yeh Tien-lun (葉天倫), focuses on the night market culture of Taiwan and follows a group of vendors at a bustling night market whose lives are filled with rivalries and unspoken romances until they find a common cause to resist politicians and property developers eyeing the land on which the vendors have made their living for a decade.
The film features model-turned-actor Blue Lan (藍正龍), Chu Ke-liang (豬哥亮), a popular stand-up comedian and TV host, and -comedienne Lotus Wang (王彩樺).
Photo courtesy of Chinlai Artists Agency
Jackie Liu, from the local office of film distributor Twentieth Century Fox, said yesterday that box office receipts had reached NT$90.93 million by Sunday since the film’s Jan. 28 release.
Although still far behind last year’s box office hit Monga, which grossed NT$258 million, and the 2008 hit Cape No. 7, which amassed about NT$530 million, Night Market Hero has performed well from the start.
In the first weekend following its release, the film earned NT$12.56 million, and within 10 days, it had reached NT$54 million, Liu said.
Local film critic Lan Tzu-wei said on his blog that Night Market Hero might not show many new ideas on an artistic level, but its portrayal of stereotypes of Taiwanese culture has made it a major draw.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about