Chasing the Dragon (film)

Chasing the Dragon (Chinese: 追龍; Sidney Lau: Jui1 Lung4), previously known as King of Drug Dealers, is a Hong Kong-Chinese action crime drama film directed by Wong Jing and Jason Kwan. The film stars Donnie Yen as Crippled Ho, based on real life gangster Ng Sik-ho and Andy Lau reprising his role as Lee Rock from the film series of the same name. The film is about an illegal immigrant from China who sneaks into British-colonized Hong Kong in 1963 and transforms himself into a ruthless and emerging drug lord. [1][2] The film is a remake of the 1991 film To Be Number One.[3]

Chasing the Dragon
Film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese追龍
Simplified Chinese追龙
Directed byWong Jing
Jason Kwan
Screenplay byWong Jing
Philip Lui
Howard Yip
Produced byWong Jing
Donnie Yen
Andy Lau
Connie Wong
StarringDonnie Yen
Andy Lau
CinematographyJason Kwan
Edited byLi Ka-wing
Music byChan Kwong-wing
Patrick Lui
Production
companies
Distributed byMega-Vision Project Workshop Limited
Release dates
  • September 28, 2017 (2017-09-28) (Hong Kong)
  • September 30, 2017 (2017-09-30) (China)
Running time
128 minutes
CountriesHong Kong
China
LanguagesCantonese
Mandarin
Teochew
English
Thai
BudgetCN¥200 million
Box officeCN¥574 million
HK$21.37 million

Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch, a sequel-in-name-only featuring new characters and a new storyline was released in June 2019.

Cast

[4]

Production and release

Director Wong Jing personally flew to Canada in 2016 to persuade Yen to star in his film Chasing the Dragon, while Yen was filming XXX: Return of Xander Cage at that time. Yen was convinced by Wong's sincerity, playing a non-traditional role of a villain with limited fighting scenes and the opportunity to work alongside Andy Lau. Yen flew back to Asia to take part in the film after filming Return of Xander Cage in 2016.

In September 2017, Chasing the Dragon was released to mixed reviews from critics.[5] It was a huge hit with audiences in most Mandarin-speaking parts of Asia (including China and Singapore), beating Hollywood blockbuster Blade Runner 2049 and Jackie Chan's The Foreigner, despite being marketed less heavily. In Hong Kong, Chasing the Dragon earned more than 10 times the box office gross of The Foreigner. In China, it earned US$86 million.[6]

Chasing the Dragon was released as a digital, Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on January 23, 2018.[7]

Awards and nominations
Award Category Recipients Result
37th Hong Kong Film Awards[8][9]Best FilmWong Jing, Donnie Yen, Andy Lau, Connie WongNominated
Best CinematographyJason KwanWon
Best Film EditingLi Ka-wingWon
Best Art DirectionJames CheungNominated
Best Costume & Make Up DesignYee Chung-man, Bruce Yu, Kwok Suk-manNominated
Best Action ChoreographyYu Kang, Yuen Bun, Yan HuaNominated

References
  1. "娛樂名人- 逆齡做雷洛前傳包庇子丹華仔聞添丁：冇！".
  2. "King Of Drug Dealers". The Film Catalogue. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  3. New groovy photos of Donnie Yen in ‘Chasing the Dragon’
  4. "《追龍》開鏡劉德華澄清太太沒秘密生娃 - 香港新聞網".
  5. Edmund Lee (28 September 2017). "Film review: Chasing the Dragon – Donnie Yen, Andy Lau play notorious criminals Crippled Ho, Lee Rock in slanted biopic". Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  6. Sina (19 October 2017). "Film review: Chasing the Dragon beating The Foreigner as Runner Up for China's National Holiday releases". Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  7. Raymond, Nicholas (2017-12-11). "Exclusive: Chasing the Dragon Trailer Starring Donnie Yen". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  8. "Hong Kong Film Awards nominations 2018: Ann Hui's Our Time Will Come leads race with 11 nods". South China Morning Post. February 6, 2018.
  9. "Our Time Will Come wins five awards, including best film, at star-studded Hong Kong Film Awards". South China Morning Post. April 15, 2018.
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