The people have spoken and voted Lee Min Ho, 28, as the most influential Asian actor in the inaugural Weibo Move Night Awards in Shanghai, China, on June 13, Monday. Lee was honored with an "Asian Cinema Pioneer" award, as he accumulated the most votes in an online poll of 100 million Weibo subscribers.
According to MYM Entertainment, Lee currently has 28.8 million followers on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site proportionate to Twitter. Further, the hashtag for his upcoming film, "Bounty Hunters," has already reached 1.33 billion hits, which somehow confirmed Lee's status as an influential figure in Asian entertainment.
On the night of the prestigious event, Lee took to Instagram and shared a photograph of himself along with his award and the "Bounty Hunters" director, Shin Terra.
"Through this recognition, Lee Min Ho grows beyond being a Hallyu star and into a film actor representing Asia," a representative from Weibo said, as quoted by Soompi. "It is particularly meaningful that he received the award for the assessment of the Chinese public themselves."
The representative proceeded to add that Lee is working without rest, in an effort to grow out of his flower boy image and remain on top as an actor. Further, the event organizer stated that the award is meaningful in light of the fact that local Chinese individuals voted in favor of him.
Nonetheless, the award is not a surprise given the number of lucrative projects and endorsements Lee has done in China in the previous years. As a matter of fact, he will be making his next big screen appearance in the upcoming Chinese-South Korean-Hong Kong co-production film called "Bounty Hunters." The action-comedy film, which also stars Wallace Chung, Tang Yan, and Karena Ng, is scheduled to hit theaters across China on July 1.
The film, which reportedly has a production budget of $41.5 million, follows the story of five bounty hunters working across Asian countries. It is said to be one of the most expensive Chinese-Korean movies, to date.
In November, he is set to make his small screen comeback in the SBS TV series, "Legend of the Blue Sea," along with actress Jun Ji Hyun. The forthcoming fantasy drama is inspired by a mermaid story from Korea's first collection of unofficial historical tales, "Eou Yadam," by Joseon scholar, Yu Mong-In.
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