Life of Pi comes back in IMAX From Paper and Ink to Light and Shadow: FOX 2000 Unit

The 20th Shanghai International Film Festival will be held June 17th through 26th. Every year, the varied screening units are always the focuses of movie fans at the festival. This year, a special unit will be launched for the first time: From Paper and Ink to Light and Shadow, FOX 2000 Unit. On the list of it announced today are movies which have been widely and highly appraised across the world, and will come back in theatre during the festival.

FOX 2000 Pictures is one of the four brands of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a tycoon in Hollywood. Different from 20th Century Fox the parent company, and its other subsidiaries such as Fox Searchlight Pictures and Blue Sky Studios, Fox 2000 Pictures specializes in adapting novels to movies, and is famous for its art films.

In recent years, four companies under Fox Filmed Entertainment have been making great movies for the market: Fox 2000 Pictures, specializing in novel adaptations, have contributed high-quality movies such as Fight Club, Man on Fire, Life of Pi and so on; focused on low-cost and independent film production, Fox Searchlight Pictures presented Slumdog Millionaire, 500 Days of Summer, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and more; Blue Sky Studios where Ice Age series and Rio series were made has already become a leader in animated films; 20th Century Fox, production company of blockbusters such as Avatar, Titanic, The Wolverine series, X-men series and more, has received both enormous box office income and love from fans across the world.

For the FOX 2000 unit at Shanghai International Film Festival this year, five movies will be screened, Fight Club, Man on Fire, Walk the Line, the Devil Wears Prada and Life of Pi. What is worth noticing is that Fight Club now considered a cult film will be screened this year at the festival, which will arouse a huge wave of excitement. When Life of Pi was first in theatre in China in 2012, it received 570 million yuan in box office. This year, there will only be two screenings of Life of Pi, so it will also be a chance not to be missed. 

 Fight club（1999）

Director: David Fincher

Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter 

The story is told by a first person narrator, Jack, who suffers from insomnia and co-founds Fight Club with the unruly Tyler whom he meets. The club is an underground organization where people get to fight without wearing any protection. Flight Club quickly becomes a national organization, and under the leadership of Tyler, things start to get off the original track, and become crazier and crazier. Jack can’t take it anymore and decides to leave Tyler, but he finds that he can’t because of a terrifying secret…

When Fight Club was first in theatre in October, 1999, it didn\'t do so well at box office. But to everyone’s surprise, its DVD sold over 6 million copies later. It scores so high and gets listed among the best movies in the world on both IMDB and on Douban (a movie scoring website in China). With Freudian psychoanalysis, criticism on consumerism, and interpretation of human nature, it has been rated as a cult film by fans who consider it as Hollywood’s merciless exposure of the abnormities in western society. Fight Club is going to screen at Shanghai International Film Festival this year, which is an exciting news for Chinese fans.

 Man on Fire (2004)

Director: Tony Scott

Stars: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Radha Mitchell, Marc Anthony 

The Oscar-winner Denzel Washington plays an ex-CIA operative John Creasy in the movie. He was a ruthless assassin, but he gets trapped in his own nightmares and gives up on himself and becomes an alcoholic. A friend recommends him to be hired as a bodyguard in Mexico for a 10-year-old girl Lupita. Lupita’s simple and naïve personality influences John and she becomes the only light in his life. When Lupita is kidnapped and killed, John seeks revenge in furious rage. 

The combination of a ruthless assassin and an innocent little girl reminds people of Léon: The Professional in 1994. Unlike that one, Man on Fire focuses on the complex personality of John Creasy. He is struggling in hell, but he is given a chance back to a normal life by the little girl who is the angel and the only light of his life. When his last chance is crashed, it breaks the audience’s hearts to see him feel so desperate. 

 Walk the Line (2005)

Director: James Mangold

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Patrick 

John Cash is a country boy from Arkansas. His brother dies in an accident when he is still a boy, and since then, he has been living in his father’s blame and taunt. He loves music, and becomes a country musician. He gains his fame and has his own family. On a tour, he gets addicted to drugs and slips into the abyss. Drug use makes his wife Vivian leave him with the kid. So he turns to a female singer June Carter whom he has feelings for but couldn\'t be with since he has a family. June helps him get rid of drugs but refuses his love time and time again. When John finally comes clean from drugs and gets to start his career all over again, his love with June finally comes to a happy ending on the stage. 

Walk the Line is a movie about degradation and redemption. It is a biographical film adapted from a true story. If you are a fan of country music or John Cash’s, you will come across many familiar melodies in the movie. Reese Witherspoon won the Best Actress Award at the 78 Academy Awards for her brilliant performance in the movie, which is another highlight of it. 

穿普拉达的女王 The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Director: David Frankel

Stars: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Steep, Emily Blunt 

The naïve Andrea comes to the famous fashion magazine RUNWAY for an interview. Mirada, the editor of the magazine, hires her as the second assistant. At first, Andrea feels mistreated because no matter how hard she tries, Mirada never appreciates it. with the help of a colleague, she decides to adapt herself. She gets popular and even replaces the first assistant in Miranda’s heart. Miranda decides to take this smart girl to France. For Andrea, Miranda loses her friendship with friends. In France, when Andrea knows that Miranda may be losing her job for protecting her, she is surprised and depressed. How would Andrea choose? Many people see themselves in Andrea.

Life of Pi (2012)

Director: Ang Lee

Stars: Suraj Sharma/Rafe Spall/Irrfan Khan

A writer who is searching for inspirations learns by accident that Pi Patel has a legendary life story: Pi’s father has a zoo. Growing up there, Pi has his own ideas about belief and humanity. At the age of 17, Pi’s parents decide to immigrate to Canada for a better life. He has to leave his lover. On the ship to Canada, they meet a brutal French cook. On one night, out in the boundless ocean, the thunderstorm which excites Pi turns into a disaster that swallows the entire ship. Pi survives, which is a miracle. He drifts on the ocean in a lifeboat, accompanied by an expected companion, a male Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker. The adventure starts from there.