'The Great Wall' is an upcoming American-Chinese 3D science fantasy adventure-monster action film directed by Zhang Yimou. (Photo : Twitter/China Film Insider)
The American-Chinese 3D adventure-monster action film, "The Great Wall," has been delayed from its original Nov. 23 release date to Feb. 17, 2017, in the United States by Universal Pictures and an unspecified date in December for China by Le Vision Pictures and China Film Group Corporation.
The upcoming film is directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and features an ensemble cast led by Matt Damon and Andy Lau, while the other cast members include Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Jing Tian, Zhang Hanyu, Lu Han, Eddie Peng, Lin Gengxin, Chen Xuedong and Huang Xuan.
Based on the original idea of Legendary CEO Thomas Tull and "World War Z" creator Max Brooks, the upcoming action-packed film is set in Northern Song Dynasty and explores the mysteries behind the construction of The Great Wall of China, Collider reported.
It has been learned that "The Martian" star will play William Garin, a wandering European mercenary who comes to China along with an elite swordsman bullfighter named Pero Tovar (Pascal). While actor Dafoe plays the supporting role of Ballard, a shadowy foreign outsider who has been detained in a Chinese fortress for years, and plots to steal the Chinese army's greatest weapon.
The 54-year-old Lau depicts' Strategist Wang, an intellectual alchemist and a technological innovator who must devise schemes and weaponry to crush the savage ambush. At the point when the extraordinary creatures "hell-bent on devouring humanity" launched a sudden assault, the two 15th century British soldiers will cooperate with the Chinese army and warriors, and transform the Great Wall into a weapon to protect humankind, Los Angeles Times reported.
With a total budget of $135 million, the film is said to be the most expensive movie ever produced in China and the greatest U.S.-China co-production to date, which makes the anticipation of the fans grows higher. It also marks the first English-language film directed by Yimou and Lau's first film role in a Hollywood production.
"This is the biggest movie I've ever been involved with," Damon said during the film's press conference in Beijing on July 2015, while stating that the language barrier was not a problem. He also claimed that the audiences will surely be in for some "fun surprises" once they see the film's version of the wall.
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