Tencent Pictures, the film arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent, has announced its lineup of 14 new productions, most of which are being or will be made with Chinese or Hollywood veterans. It was announced by Tencent in Beijing on April 20.
One of the productions is the fantasy movie Fighter of Destiny, which has been adapted from a popular online novel of the same title. Earlier, the story was adapted for TV and the web.
Thanks to the popularity of the series' lead star Lu Han, who has nearly 31 million followers on Sina Weibo, the young-hero tale has accumulated 100 million-plus views online.
Cheng Wu, CEO of Tencent Pictures, said his company aims to turn the story to a franchise, including games and animation.
The movie will be produced by Huang Jianxin, a well-known filmmaker behind a number of box-office hits, including the crime thriller Operation Mekong. Along with Taiwan filmmaker Chen Kuo-fu’s CKF Pictures, their first coproduction Yi Dai Yao Jing (The Demon) will be released later this year, with the story unfolding the romance between a human and a demon.
The feature-length movie Zombie Brother, adapted from a Chinese comic strip, will be directed by Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg and penned by American scriptwriter Matt Lieberman.