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.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we