In the most unexpected film news of the day, the 1981 Oscar Award-winning smash hit Chariots of Fire is getting two competing sequels thirty four years after its original release. Even stranger, both are telling the same story – but one, titled Absolute Surrender, is an American production focusing on the religious values of lead character Eric Lidell, whereas the other, The Last Race, is a Chinese production that will avoid religion at all costs, due to the communist government promoting atheism to its citizens.
The first film will tell the story of how Lidell followed in his parents footsteps to become a Christian missionary in China, only to become forced into spending the rest of his life in a Japanese internment camp (his family also escaped to Canada for safety). The Chinese version is telling this story without the religious aspects – quite a difficult task considering the only reason he went to the country was because of his religion. Either way, both films are currently in production, with no announced casts or release dates- but, like Chariots of Fire, both films are engaging in a slow motion race to the finish line in the hope of getting released first.
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