French director Luc Besson’s new action thriller Lucy opened in Taiwan yesterday, with the film’s local distributor estimating that it would break the NT$24 million (US$800,280) mark on the first day of its local release.
Universal Studios Inc has also predicted that the film’s first-week gross will reach NT$125 million, but said an accurate figure for the first-day box office gross will not be available until the next day.
The film, starring US actress Scarlett Johansson, is something of a rarity — one of the few major Hollywood productions to be shot mainly in Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Of the film’s 89-minute running time, more than half takes place against Taipei landmarks, showing off sites such as the Taipei 101 skyscraper, the Taipei Railway Workshop and the Regent Taipei hotel.
Even the country’s national flag gets a showing, not an easy feat given China’s attempts to isolate Taiwan.
The film also depicts one of the city’s best-known delicacies — steamed dumplings called xiaolongbao.
Johansson plays the leading role as an American woman living and studying in Taipei who is forced to become a drug mule for gangsters.
She is accidentally exposed to the drug, which unlocks the “full potential of her brain” and transforms her into a superhuman fighting machine.
The movie has helped boost Taiwan’s popularity amid the country’s efforts to bring itself to the world stage, the Wall Street Journal said in a report on Tuesday.
While different sites in Taiwan have appeared in foreign films before, none have put Taipei front and center stage like Lucy , the article said.
“Scarlett Johansson may be the leading lady in French director Luc Besson’s new thriller Lucy , but for many Taiwanese movie watchers, the film’s real star is the city of Taipei,” it said.
The Taipei Film Commission, which played a significant role in persuading Besson to film in the city, was cited as saying that since 2008, 267 foreign films have shot scenes in Taipei and the trend is expected to grow.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
NEW DESTINATIONS: Marketing campaigns to attract foreign travelers have to change from the usual promotions about Alishan and Taroko Gorge, the transport minister said The number of international tourists visiting Taiwan is estimated to top 8 million by the end of this year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday, adding that the ministry has not changed its goal of attracting 10 million foreign travelers this year. Chen made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to brief lawmakers about the ministry’s plan to boost foreign visitor arrivals. Last month, Chen told the committee that the nation might attract only 7.5 million tourists from overseas this year and that when the ministry sets next year’s goal, it would not include
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