Wellington – The team at Park Road Post Production are toasting the success of another hit movie – this time it’s China’s biggest ever box office success, Wolf Warrior 2.
Dubbed a Chinese “Rambo” story, Wolf Warrior 2 was this week confirmed as China’s highest grossing film, racking up nearly US$600 million in its first 14 days. It overtook last year’s The Mermaid and pushed this year’s Furious 8 into third place.
The action movie was written and directed by Wu Jing, one of China’s top action heroes, who also plays the title character, a former Chinese Special Forces operative who wages a war against a band of mercenaries.
The film also stars Frank Grillo, Celina Jade, Wu Gang and Zhang Han and has dominated the box office in China since its release last month. According to Variety magazine, it has been the highest grossing film in the world for the past two weekends, beating major Hollywood releases.
Park Road was responsible for the sound editing and mixing on the production.
“All of the team are delighted for Wu Jing and the producers of Wolf Warrior 2,” says Park Road ceo Cameron Harland. “We had a world-class team of sound editors working on the dialogue, effects and music edit and then supported that with the sound mix team, led by our own Mike Hedges and his team.”
The film’s sound was edited by Chris Ward (dialogue supervisor), Hayden Collow (effects supervisor) and Stephen Gallagher (music editor) and mixed at Park Road by two-times Oscar winner Mike Hedges and Gilbert Lake.
“Wellington’s film industry has a growing engagement with China’s vast domestic film industry, supported by the NZ Government through the Film Commission and Trade & Ent.”
Of particular note for Wellington’s film industry is the growing engagement with China’s vast domestic film industry, which has been supported by the NZ Government through the NZ Film Commission and NZ Trade & Enterprise.
The project was supported through NZTE’s International Growth Fund, which supports New Zealand businesses to explore new markets, and through the Film Commission’s New Zealand Screen Production Grant scheme for Post, Digital and Visual Effects.
While not well known outside China, the country’s domestic screen industry is enormous, supported by a massive movie theatre network and a keen movie-going public.
Increasingly, Chinese productions companies are tapping into expertise and talent in other countries to support their productions.
“This is the biggest Chinese release we have worked on to date,” says Harland. “Last year, we worked on League of Gods and we are involved in a number of discussions with Chinese productions currently.”
Harland said other Weta Group companies such as Weta Workshop have extensive relationships in China. Weta Workshop worked on the 2016 release Great Wall, amongst other projects.
About Park Road
Park Road Post Production is an internationally renowned purpose-built facility, providing award-winning sound and picture finishing alongside industry-leading development of digital workflows. Completed in 2002 in time to deliver the final mix on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Park Road has continued to provide post production at the highest level to filmmakers – and television commercial producers – all over the world. Park Road Post is owned by WingNut Films, Peter Jackson’s production company.
About the Weta Group of Companies
The Weta Group of Companies comprises five award-winning companies on the Miramar Peninsula in Wellington: digital visual effects house Weta Digital; design studio and physical effects manufacturing facility Weta Workshop; post production facility Park Road Post Production; purpose-built filmmaking complex Stone Street Studios and to complete the offer, Portsmouth Rentals camera and lighting equipment hire. Frequently collaborating on large scale film projects while also functioning as independent facilities, these companies form a filmmaking hub that takes some of the world’s biggest films from first concepts right through to final post production.
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