Written by new-contact on Mar 12, 2015. Posted in On Location

Matt Damon and Andy Lau to film in China for historical epic The Great Wall

Matt Damon and Andy Lau will lead the cast of new historical epic The Great Wall, which is being billed as the largest-ever movie to film in China for international distribution. Set in the 15th century, the feature will follow soldiers defending humanity from the secrets of the wall.

The Great Wall is a rare US-China co-production that marks China’s increased investment in Hollywood film production.

American producers are looking for more ways to tap into the lucrative Chinese market, often by way of an official co-production status to bypass China’s strict quota on the number of annual foreign film releases.

Marvel filmed scenes in Shanghai for Iron Man 3 and the Chinese market ended up with a different cut of the final film from that seen by western audiences. More recently, the producers of Transformers: Age of Extinction (above) directly targeted the Chinese market by setting its finale in Hong Kong and filming scenes partly in the city.

China is also taking a greater interest in Hollywood and western cinema. The state-owned China Film Group recently invested in the Hollywood fantasy features Seventh Son and Warcraft, and the country is investing in several new film studios. One of the largest is set to be Wanda Qingdao Studios, which made its debut at the AFCI Locations Show last week.

“We are building a world-class film and television studio and we are creating extremely generous production incentives which together will allow Wanda Studios Qingdao to successfully compete on a global scale,” said Nancy Romano, Chief Operating Officer of Wanda Studios Qingdao.

(Image: Michael Bay/Paramount Pictures)