F4 reunion on CCTV New Year's Eve in Shenzhen

After The Little Tiger's reunion on CCTV's annual Spring Festival Celebration program for their twentieth year, there were rumors and speculation that perhaps F4 would also reunite on the show for their tenth anniversary. While that plan to bring together Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, Van Ness Wu, and Ken Chu didn't fall into place, CCTV gave it one more shot by mailing out formal invitations in hopes that the four would attend the New Year's Eve celebration in Shenzhen on the 21st this year. Alas, Vic thought that the New Year's Eve celebration would actually, you know, be on New Year's Eve (the 31st), and so he had already made vacation plans for the 21st.

Unlike in Taiwan, Mainland's CCTV holds their New Year's Eve party earlier. On the night of the 20th, they hold the red carpet event, a press conference, and the dress rehearsal. Then on the 21st, they officially film the show. Had the reunion of F4 been successful, they would have been Taiwan's sole representatives.

The "mother of F4", Angie Chai, has deemed it "Mission Impossible" to bring the four together due to their different management companies. And since Vic will be doing promotions in Tokyo for "Black and White" near the Spring Festival date next year, chances are slim that the four will be able to reunite for the occasion. However, it can't be completely written off yet. Perhaps Hunan TV, who has offered to provide them with planes for transfers for Hunan TV's Spring Festival show, will be able to finally bring them back together again. Even Jerry's manager has stated that the four have a consensus on reuniting, but it will all depend on their schedules.

In the meantime, we can look forward to other big names coming to the CCTV New Year's Eve party, such as the Four Heavenly Kings consisting of Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, and Aaron Kwok.

Source: Appledaily
Written by: Zahra @ CpopAccess.com

F4 will reunite for CCTV Spring Festival Gala 2011

The Year of the Rabbit isn’t until February of 2011, but there are already rumors of who will be performing at next year’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The Chinese New Year extravaganza is watched by a billion viewers every year. Stars that are lucky enough to be invited often get a major career boost after appearing on the show.

Back in January, 80s Taiwanese boygroup The Little Tigers reunited for a special performance in the gala. Their surprise reunion was not only a huge hit with the audience, but also with concert organizers. Offers made to the group reportedly had a 30% price increase.

Although F4 hasn't been around as long as the "Tigers", they will be celebrating their tenth year in 2011. Viewers sure won't mind seeing them on TV, and fans are apparently starting a petition in hopes they will reunite for a 10-year anniversary concert. F4's manager didn't deny about receiving an offer from CCTV, but said they are awaiting more details. The managers for each member will be returning to Taiwan in a few days, so they hope to begin negotiations on working out their schedules first.

It doesn't seem extremely difficult to bring Vic Chou, Ken Chu and Van Ness Wu together, but Jerry Yan’s status is still up in the air. He hasn’t been in the best of health lately, and he might have a busy movie-filming schedule on the way. The rest of F4 are currently preoccupied with their own activities – Vic Chou is filming his new drama “回家 (Returning Home)”, Van Ness Wu is about to begin work on Material Queen, and Ken Chu is busy with blogging. The poetic blogger recently posted some lyrics that he wrote himself:

“By now, what else needs to be proven. Your departure, it has buried my heart. Let me cry, let my tears wash away my sadness…”

Many fans believed he was in fact writing about his recent break up with actress Kelly Lin. However, his manager denied it saying, “It was written during his free time in between filming. It’s nothing special.”

Source: Appledaily, TVBS
Written by: PA @ CpopAccess.com

Jerry Yan and Vanness Wu in Material Queen

A press event was held for Material Queen to officially introduce Van Ness Wu as its new leading man. Fellow F4 Jerry Yan made a surprise appearance after dropping out of the drama several days ago. It was impossible for him to keep a low-profile despite wearing casual clothes and a cap, but he did look like he wasn’t feeling very well. Producer Chen Yu Shan later explained that Jerry has been suffering from immune system problems, but the cause of his illness is still unknown.

Chen Yu Shan and director Chen Hui Ling got Van Ness Wu to sign on within 24 hours after they lost Jerry Yan. On the replacement casting, director Chen clarified, “I didn't invite (Van Ness Wu) to act, but rather to play the right role.” Van Ness Wu said he accepted the offer a day after getting her call on 27th, “I’ve had wanted to act (in this drama), but didn’t insist on it, maybe God heard my voice, it’s fate.” The press also asked if he is concerned about his height, since costar Lynn Xiong is 178 cm tall. Van Ness Wu responded, “Even Jay Chou can act alongside Lin Chi-ling, what should I be afraid of?”

Source: Appledaily, Libertytimes, UDN
Written by: PA @ CpopAccess.com

F4 Defeats Fahrenheit in Bringing 11 Billion Dollar of Income

Last year, idol group F4 endorsed Taiwan tourism and acted promotion ambassadors to Japan and Korea. They brought in 11 billion dollars of profit for Taiwan. However, Fahrenheit who took over the endorsement was not able to bring in the same effect and only made 1.1 billion dollars in the first half of the year. Earlier it was rumored that because the promotional effects were not as good as anticipated, the Tourism Bureau might invite F4 to regroup and to endorse next year, however, Cheng Yi-ping, a representative for the Tourism Bureau expressed: [Who did you hear this from? There is no such thing. We are still asking for bids.]

F4 is extremely renowned in Japan and Korea. Last year, they became promotion ambassadors for Taiwan tourism with beautiful results. Although each member earned an endorsement fee of NTW $8M, tourists from Japan and Korea reached a record of 1.16 million people and brought in an estimated NTW $11B for Taiwan. This year, the newcomers Fahrenheit took over however their combined endorsement fee of $5 millions was far less than that of one person in F4. The endorsement fee for Fahrenheit was much cheaper and in addition, the four belonged to the same management company which made it easier for communication and coordination. In comparison to F4, other than not starring in a drama together, all other duties that they were supposed to do, nothing was left out.

Unfortunately, Fahrenheit’s first event for the year in February did not turn out well. First the rumor of fan club paying people to act as fans came out. Now, although it had not been even six months yet, it was rumored that because the endorsement effect was not as anticipated, the Tourism Bureau might go back and asks F4 to endorse again for next year. However because the endorsement fee for F4 was overly high, it might be some other type of collaborations instead. For example, this March, the Tourism Bureau spent $2M to set up an international fan club for Vic Zhou and had received $4 billion tourism income in return. This set a good precedence.

With regards to F4 taking up the duties again because the effect of Fahrenheit endorsing tourism was not as anticipated, Cheng Yi-ping expressed: [We won’t be asking for bids until June so right now, don’t know what will happen.] However, she emphasized that it was not due to poor results since Fahrenheit had their supporters too. Head of the Bidding Committee Hou Wen-Yan expressed: [I have not heard such a thing. I need to understand the situation a little more.] However, the managers for Jerry Yan and Vic Zhou both indicated that they had always been in contact with the Tourism Bureau but the question of taking up the endorsement again was still undecided. The manager for Fahrenheit indicated that Fahrenheit’s endorsement term was for 2 years and the contract will end until next July, therefore for the time being, there would not be any changes.

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