A slam dunk movie in the making

The NBA has joined hands with Shanghai Film Group to release a film starring top basketball players.

Dwight Howard from Orlando Magic, Carmelo Anthony from Denver Nuggets and Scottie Pippen, the legendary Chicago Bulls small forward, have been cast, along with mainland basketball players Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian.

Titled Amazing, the Chinese-language film reflects the core values of the game, says David Stern, the NBA commissioner, who spoke at a news conference in Beijing recently.

"Amazing is an aspirational film about young people achieving their dreams through hard work," he says. "I believe it is something all of us can connect to."

The NBA has done similar deals on a raft of films in the United States, like Spike Lee's He Got Game, Eddie with Whoopi Goldberg and the animated film Space Jam, starring Michael Jordan.

Amazing, however, is the first NBA-themed flick shot outside North America. It also makes the Shanghai Film Group the first official movie partner of the league in China and the NBA the studio's first US sports partner.

"Both cinema and basketball are amazing things," says Ren Zhonglun, president of Shanghai Film Group. "I hope the combination of the two will create an amazing film."

Ren approached the league in 2009 and spent a whole year negotiating a deal with NBA executives.

Shanghai Film Group, founded more than 50 years ago, is one of the leading film companies in China and has a magnificent library of works.

The studio has been an active player in international co-productions. It co-produced The White Countess with Merchant Ivory in 2005, and Mummy 3 with Universal Pictures in 2008. It has also established a Shanghai-based joint venture with Technicolor this year to serve the booming demand in China for post-production services.

Its ambition matches NBA's hopes for the Chinese market.

The NBA launched NBA China in 2008 and formed a joint venture with AEG to develop NBA-style arenas across the nation.

It also held its fifth set of pre-season games in China when the Houston Rockets and the New Jersey Nets played in Beijing and Guangzhou, on Oct 13 and 16, as part of NBA China Games 2010.

The filming of Amazing will take place in New York, Beijing and Shanghai through November and is scheduled to open next summer.

Hu Xuehua, a veteran theater and film director, directs the film.

China Daily

(China Daily 10/19/2010 page18)