Chapman To, Mark Lee play mahjong rivals in new movie

SINGAPORE — Expect side-splitting laughter when Mark Lee teams up with Hong Kong’s Chapman To in the new movie King Of Mahjong.

Helmed by Malaysian director Adrian Teh and slated for release in early 2015, the family comedy centres around a longtime feud between Ah Fatt (Chapman) and Tian Ba (Lee), the two top disciples of a legendary mahjong guru. Twenty years later, Tian Ba boldly challenges Fatt to the ultimate showdown, revealing a secret mahjong technique.

Other cast members include Richard Low, Patricia Mok and Marcus Chin, as well as Hong Kong’s Eric Tsang, Chu Mi Mi and Lo Hoi-pang.

Why mahjong? “We’re Asian and we wanted a relatable theme. “When we were young, all our aunties and cousins played Mahjong, so it brings back a lot of memories for us,” said Chow Wai Ling, director of PR and communications for new Singapore production house Zingshot Productions, which will work with Clover Films on King Of Mahjong.

She added: “We’re not promoting playing mahjong per se; it’s really more of a bonding moment.”

The producers have high hopes for the movie, despite coming up against big Hollywood films. “Over the past year, local movies have suffered at the box office. This has also been a really interesting year. I’ve never seen so many Hollywood blockbusters coming out, and the sheer volume of it! There have been four Hollywood movies that have hit 10 million (dolllars) in the box offices!” said Clover Films managing director Lim Teck.

He continued: “Director Jack Neo tried many different things with Lion Men, but the box office (returns) haven’t met our expectations at all. So I think it’s really tough right now because we’re trying to do something different and yet audiences are so spoilt for choice. Local movies have taken a beating.”

King Of Mahjong will be filmed in both Singapore and Malaysia. “We have a lensing ceremony this Saturday, and we’ll start shoot this Sunday.” said Lim.

“We’re going to try new scenes that we’ve never tried before, taking about 20 days in Malaysia and moving to Singapore at the end of the month. It’s a very interesting Singapore-Malaysia co-production. Five years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to make this movie in this manner. It’s not only the amount of resources but also the connections that developed over the years.”

King Of Mahjong is slated for release in early 2015.