By Clifford Coonan (THEHOLLYWOODREPORTER)
Lü will finance and produce with ANA Media’s Scott Einbinder, while Roman Kopelevich’s Red Sea Media is handling international sales.
In the latest project related to the hugely popular Chinese legend, Journey to the West, financier Lü Jianmin's Beijing-based Chunqiu Time Culture Company is collaborating with ANA Media’s Scott Einbinder to back The Monkey King's Daughter.
Based on the young-adult book series by Todd A. DeBonis, who also wrote the screenplay, the movie will be an official Chinese co-production slated to shoot in December in China and Canada.
Roman Kopelevich’s Red Sea Media is handling international sales for the film and will introduce it to buyers in Cannes.
"China is the second biggest film market in the world. I’m proud and excited to be selling this magnificent, Chinese origin, young-adult movie which transcends genres and cultures," said Kopelevich.
Lü, who has produced more than 60 films, scored a $90 million success with Wolf Warriors in March.
Aki L.G. Aleong, CEO of Mustard See Media Group, will executive produce, and Henry Luk’s China-based Ace Studios will provide production services.
The Monkey King's Daughter is the first in a series of four following Meilin, an ordinary, suburban, California high school sophomore who knows nothing about her father's true Chinese heritage.
On her 16th birthday, her genetic make-up activates, transforming her into an extraordinary, super-heroine and thrusting her into the magical realms of the past to battle monstrous demons from ancient China. With the help of her father, the Monkey King (China’s most famous mythical hero), she must save her mother and friends from certain death.
There have been a raft of highly successful adaptations of the Monkey King legend in recent years, including Stephen Chow's Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons and Hong Kong director Pou Soi Cheang's 3D version, which took $167 million last year, while Paramount is also working on an adaptation.
The visual effects for the movie will be created by Hydraulx, who recently did Disney’s The Avengers, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Iron Man 2.