NBA Partners With Chinese Studio For "Major Film Release"

The NBA has partnered with the Shanghai Film Group to "release a major film overseas," according to Li Anlan of the SHANGHAI DAILY. The film will feature an "all-star cast" that includes Magic C DWIGHT HOWARD, Knicks F CARMELO ANTHONY, Mavericks F YI JIANLIAN, and Basketball HOFer SCOTTIE PIPPEN. The film will also star Chinese actors HUANG XIAOMING, HUANG YI, CHARLES CHEN and AMBER KUO, as well as American actor ERIC MABIUS. The deal marks the first time the NBA has partnered with a non-U.S. film studio. The film, titled "AMAZING," tells the story of a fictional world known as "The Sixth Sense," and uses basketball imagery "to combine the visual elements of a video game with a movie." Shanghai Film Group President REN ZHONGLUN, NBA China CEO DAVID SHOEMAKER, "Amazing" Dir SHERWOOD HU and the cast were all present at Friday's news conference. The film will be released this summer in China (SHANGHAI DAILY, 6/16). ESPN’s Colin Cowherd said NBA players "and their personalities have always been underrated in movies. Football players aren’t necessarily funny, baseball players are kind of boring, NBA guys have personality” (“SportsNation,” ESPN2, 6/19).

TAKING A FLYER: Dir ROB ZOMBIE will write, direct and produce "BROAD STREET BULLIES," a film about the Flyers hockey teams during the '70s. Zombie has "the rights to the team's story and the full support" of the Flyers organization (DEADLINE.com, 6/19).