Cage.jpg (Photo : Reuters)
The 12th century war romance film "Outcast" starring Nicolas Cage will be released in China in 2015, The Hollywood Reporter said.
The relaunch was announced in Los Angeles by China Film Company chairman La Peikang and China Film Coproduction Corporation head Zhang Xun.
"It's our understanding that the China release will be mid-January, and U.S. release is on Feb. 6," Australian-American production company Arclight Films chief creative officer Mike Gabrawy announced.
Arclight is managing international sales for "Outcast" except in China and North America.
"Outcast" was supposed to be released on Sept. 26, but was cancelled on Sept. 25 by Yunnan Film Group (YFG) without warning. Arclight executive producers, producer Jeremy Bolt, Hayden Christensen and other "Outcast" cast members were in China at the time.
"We have never been given a full explanation for the problems. But it is clear that Yunnan Film Group still has great confidence in the movie. They had final cut and paid attention to details that would make the film right for Chinese audiences," Bolt told Variety.
"They also bought out the North American rights, which shows their faith here too," Bolt added.
On the other hand, YFG was reportedly not satisfied with the number of screens made available for the movie, while other reports claimed that censorship caused the canceled released date similar to the case of Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" in 2013.
Directed by former stunt and action coordinator Nick Powell, "Outcast" also stars Liu Yifei, Max Huang, Fernando Chien, Shi Liang, Lixin Zhao, Andy On, Ron Smoorenburg, Jawed El Berni, Preston Baker, Byron Lawson, Tomer Oz, Alaa Safi and Anoja Dias Bolt.
British TV series "Strike Back" and "Spooks" writer James Dormer wrote the screenplay of "Outcast." It tells the story of two Crusaders who decided to drift toward the East. Arriving in western China, they were caught in romance and hatred with local royalty.
While it is largely in English and Mandarin, "Outcast" is a Canada-France-China co-production and is qualified as an official co-production under China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television guidelines.
Yunnan Film Group funded 50 percent of the film's undisclosed budget.
