One of the predominant Chinese filmmakers, Peter Ho-sun Chan has established himself firmly as a distingushed director/producer in as early as the nineties when a string of critically acclaimed box office hits were under his belt, including his award-winning directorial debut Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye (1991) and those produced by his own United Filmmakers Organization (UFO) like Tom, Dick & Hairy (1993), He's a Women, She's a Man (1994) and Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1997) among which Comrades has won a record nine Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) and was named one of the Ten Best Movies of 1997 by Time Magazine.
In 1998, Chan directed his first Hollywood picture The Love Letter for Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks SKG. In 2000, his established Applause Pictures dedicated to quality co-productions aimed at audiences across Asia. Films produced under the Applause Pictures banner include Jan Dara, One Fine Spring Day, The Eye series, Three and Three…Extremes, Golden Chicken and Golden Chicken 2, and McDull, The Alumni.
Chan's next project, the musical Perhaps Love (2005), shot entirely on location in Mainland China, became one of the year's top-grossing films in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and received a record twenty-nine awards. Chan next directed The Warlords and produced Derek Yee's Protégé. The two films were the two highest grossing Hong Kong-China co-productions of 2007. The Warlords grossed a record 210 million yuan in China and over 40 million US dollars across Asia, and garnered eight Hong Kong Film Awards and three Golden Horse Awards—including Best Director and Best Feature Film.
In 2009, Chan joined forces with internationally acclaimed producer-director Huang Jianxin and Bona International to form the Beijing-based Cinema Popular. Setting their sights on the growing Mainland Chinese film market, with a mandate to cultivate a new generation of talent, the company plans to produce fifteen films over the next three years. Cinema Popular's goal is to transform the face of Chinese-language cinema with original filmworks that will reach previously untapped audience. Cinema Popular's first production is Teddy Chen's Bodyguards and Assassins.