Now putting the final touches on his China-set and co-produced directorial debut, Man of Tai Chi, Keanu Reeves revealed Monday that his ambitions in the country entail more than a mere one-off project. The 48-year-old actor-director has signed a co-development deal with Shanghai-based Fundamental Films.
Announced in a statement released at an "International Filmmaker’s Salon" event sponsored by Fundamental at the Beijing Film Market, the deal will see Reeves’ Company Films – co-founded and co-owned with Stephen Hamel – develop screenplays and joint productions for the Chinese market in collaboration with Fundamental.
Fundamental will co-finance and produce these projects and handle promotion and distribution in China, the company said. The agreement was signed Saturday in Beijing while Reeves was visiting as a guest of the city's third annual film festival and a panelist at the co-production forum at the film market.
Further details and financial terms of the pact were not disclosed.
Fundamental also announced Monday that it will collaborate on the shooting of Luc Besson’s sequel to The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec and the fourth installment of the Transporter franchise within the next three years.
The move expands on the collaboration between Mark Gao’s Fundamental and Besson’s Europa Corp. The companies signed an exclusive, three-year output deal in July, which will see Fundamental distributing 15 Europa productions in China, the first of which will be Besson’s Robert De Niro-starring action-comedy Malavita (which the Chinese company also backed financially and co-produced).
Venturing outside China's borders, Fundamental also will join Europa in distributing at least three Chinese films a year to the international market, the company said.
Fundamental distributed recent Chinese hit Upside Down as well as Hollywood films within China like The Grey, Limitless and Abduction.