Asia Pacific Elimination Service (2018) starring Tiger Chen, Max Zhang, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais

[whitesnake]

Has anyone heard of an upcoming (2019?) Chinese movie, Asia Pacific Elimination Service?  It's not Triple Threat, but a different movie with cast:  Tiger Chen, Max Zhang, Tony Jaa, and Iko Uwais.  The director is Adrian Teh, a Malaysian filmmaker who signed a deal with Chinese studio Zhejiang Huace Film and TV to make 3 feature films in a three-year period (2016 - 2020?).  "Targeted primarily at mainland Chinese audiences, the new films will be made in Chinese-language, with stories set mainly in China."  Teh said, "We're working on a few genres, including romantic comedies and action dramas.  We will incorporate some Malaysian elements into the series."  News from http://chinesemov.com/2018/Asia-Pacific-Elimination-Service.html and https://www.screendaily.com/festivals/filmart/chinas-huace-strikes-three-picture-deal-with-malaysias-adrian-teh/5101483.article?referrer=RSS 

Movie poster - 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Interesting article I read lately is that some of the Mainland studios are simply making movies getting investors to buy stock in the movies and then buying the tickets for the movies. Some movies are filled with empty seats on the first few opening days. I would be very cautious about getting too hyped up about anything coming from there that isn't with someone like Donnie Yen in it or someone else of high standing.

[thekfc]

That director recently directed his first action movie "Paskal" - opening later this month. It is a movie inspired by the true events of the Royal Malaysian Navy Force efforts to rescue a tanker hijacked by Somalian pirates. 

The above poster show the Petronas Towers (Malaysia) and Tiger Chen is in the movie "Paskal" but no mention of Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais or Max Zhang so very likely not the same movie. Maybe a different movie with Malaysia location/story/events.

Trailers below.

and

 

[whitesnake]

I did check the Facebook pages of Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Tiger Chen, and Max Zhang.  None of them mentioned this movie.  I also checked for director Adrian Teh online.  His IMDB page listed him as director, his most recent movie (as director) being Goodbye Mr. Loser, a fantasy/comedy, with a Malaysian release of 23 March 2017.  Wikipedia listed it as a Chinese comedy, with a Chinese release in September 2015 and becoming a sleeper hit there.  The release date of September 2015 in China means Goodbye Mr. Loser wasn't one of the three movies in the deal. 

An internet search for "Asia Pacific Elimination Service" AND "Adrian Teh" (done after I posted above) resulted in this article from City on Fire, dated July 3, 2017, that ended with "For now we advise you take A.P.E.S. with a grain of salt..." - http://cityonfire.com/tiger-chen-max-zhang-iko-uwais-and-tony-jaa-are-apes-asia-pacific-elimination-service/   The article's source was THR - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/starry-entertainment-taps-hollywood-fresh-take-journey-west-985962 - which said: "The studio is also making Asia's answer to The Expendables, called Asia Pacific Elimination Service (APES), about a group of retired action film heroes, Thai superstar Tony Jaa, Keanu Reeves's martial arts teacher Tiger Chen, and Chinese American actor David Wu are attached to the $12 million project, to be shot in Southeast Asia."   

Thank you for the above input.  It appears that APES was a potential project last year, but never went forward.  From the trailer, Paska looks like an entertaining action movie.  Since it's set in Malaysia, not China, it's not part of the 3-movie deal either.