Hong Kong-based movie and TV studio Salty Footage has signed a primary look cope with Chinese language leisure powerhouse Damai Leisure (previously Alibaba Footage) to develop a slate of Chinese language-rooted movies with world enchantment.

The partnership kicks off with “Not Associates,” a Mandarin-language adaptation of the Thai coming-of-age comedy-drama that served as Thailand’s official submission for Finest Worldwide Characteristic Movie on the 96th Academy Awards.

Multi-hyphenate Gao Xiaosong will oversee the slate beneath the primary look deal and government produce “Not Associates.” The veteran inventive, who launched his profession as a songwriter with folksy hits within the Nineties together with “My Previous Classmate,” has since expanded into filmmaking (“My Kingdom”), tv internet hosting (“U Can You BB”), and producing. His current credit embrace serving as government producer on the Primetime Emmy-nominated “3 Physique Downside” and the function “My Previous Classmate.” Gao beforehand held the place of chief content material officer at Alibaba Media and Leisure Group from 2019 to 2021.

“Dangerous Genius” and “One for the Street” helmer Baz Poonpiriya can even come aboard as a producer on the challenge.

Damai Leisure will present monetary backing for the movie, which is slated to start manufacturing in Hangzhou later this yr. UTA is packaging the challenge, with casting at present underway.

The unique “Not Associates,” produced by GDH and winner of finest image at Thailand’s Nationwide Movie Affiliation Awards, follows a excessive schooler who transfers to a brand new faculty and sees a possibility to make a commemorative movie a couple of deceased classmate regardless of having no actual relationship to the boy. The Chinese language adaptation will transplant the story to a college setting in a fictional Chinese language metropolis whereas sustaining the identical narrative arc.

“This cope with Damai Leisure is a major milestone for Salty Footage, and underscores the worth of our concentrate on pan Asian-rooted tales with world enchantment,” mentioned Salty Footage chief Jonah Greenberg, a former head of CAA China. “‘Not Associates’ builds on a narrative that has already resonated deeply with audiences — one we consider will proceed to attach throughout cultures. Our acquisition of the remake rights by trusted relationships within the Thai trade is a testomony to Salty’s id as a pan-Asian studio — one which’s actively working throughout languages, borders, and traditions to deliver highly effective tales to life.”

Salty Footage, led by seasoned producer Greenberg whose credit embrace “Cave Rescue” and “Shadow,” operates as a boutique movie and tv studio primarily based in Hong Kong.

Damai Leisure describes itself as a technology-driven firm targeted on immersive leisure experiences. Its operations span movie manufacturing, stay performances, IP commercialization, TV sequence, artist administration, and ticketing platforms. The corporate’s newly launched cellular app presents ticketing companies and content material discovery capabilities.

GDH, the unique movie’s producer, is a totally built-in Thai studio that has achieved notable worldwide success with titles together with “Dangerous Genius” (2017), the primary Thai movie to open the New York Asian Movie Pageant; “The Paradise of Thorns” (2024), which gained awards on the LGBT+ Movie Pageant in Poland and was chosen for the Toronto Worldwide Movie Pageant; and “ Make Thousands and thousands Earlier than Grandma Dies” (2024), the primary Thai movie to make the 15-film shortlist for the Academy Awards’ worldwide function class.