\n\tMulti-hyphenate Gao Xiaosong will oversee the slate under the first look deal and executive produce \u201cNot Friends.\u201d The veteran creative, who launched his career as a songwriter with folksy hits in the 1990s including \u201cMy Old Classmate,\u201d has since expanded into filmmaking (\u201cMy Kingdom\u201d), television hosting (\u201cU Can You BB\u201d), and producing. His recent credits include serving as executive producer on the Primetime Emmy-nominated \u201c3 Body Problem\u201d and the feature \u201cMy Old Classmate.\u201d Gao previously held the position of chief content officer at Alibaba Media and Entertainment Group from 2019 to 2021.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\tPopular on Variety\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\u201cBad Genius\u201d and \u201cOne for the Road\u201d helmer Baz Poonpiriya will also come aboard as a producer on the project.<\/p>\n
\n\tDamai Entertainment will provide financial backing for the film, which is slated to begin production in Hangzhou later this year. UTA is packaging the project, with casting currently underway.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe original \u201cNot Friends,\u201d produced by GDH and winner of best picture at Thailand\u2019s National Film Association Awards, follows a high schooler who transfers to a new school and sees an opportunity to make a commemorative film about a deceased classmate despite having no real relationship to the boy. The Chinese adaptation will transplant the story to a university setting in a fictional Chinese city while maintaining the same narrative arc.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis deal with Damai Entertainment is a significant milestone for Salty Pictures, and underscores the value of our focus on pan Asian-rooted stories with global appeal,\u201d said Salty Pictures chief Jonah Greenberg, a former head of CAA China. \u201c\u2018Not Friends\u2019 builds on a story that has already resonated deeply with audiences \u2014 one we believe will continue to connect across cultures. Our acquisition of the remake rights through trusted relationships in the Thai industry is a testament to Salty\u2019s identity as a pan-Asian studio \u2014 one that\u2019s actively working across languages, borders, and traditions to bring powerful stories to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSalty Pictures, led by seasoned producer Greenberg whose credits include \u201cCave Rescue\u201d and \u201cShadow,\u201d operates as a boutique film and television studio based in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\n\tDamai Entertainment describes itself as a technology-driven company focused on immersive entertainment experiences. Its operations span film production, live performances, IP commercialization, TV series, artist management, and ticketing platforms. The company\u2019s newly launched mobile app offers ticketing services and content discovery capabilities.<\/p>\n
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\n\tGDH, the original film\u2019s producer, is a fully integrated Thai studio that has achieved notable international success with titles including \u201cBad Genius\u201d (2017), the first Thai film to open the New York Asian Film Festival; \u201cThe Paradise of Thorns\u201d (2024), which won awards at the LGBT+ Film Festival in Poland and was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival; and \u201cHow to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies\u201d (2024), the first Thai film to make the 15-film shortlist for the Academy Awards\u2019 international feature category.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Read More<\/a>
\n Naman Ramachandran<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hong Kong-based film and TV studio Salty Pictures has signed a first look deal with Chinese entertainment powerhouse Damai Entertainment (formerly Alibaba Pictures) to develop a slate of Chinese-rooted films with global appeal. The partnership kicks off with \u201cNot Friends,\u201d a Mandarin-language adaptation of the Thai coming-of-age comedy-drama that served as Thailand\u2019s official submission for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":858180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1798,1026,91636],"tags":[11561,19983],"class_list":{"0":"post-858179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-pictures","9":"category-salty","10":"tag-pictures","11":"tag-salty"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}