Cannes: China’s Tianying Media Acquires Stan Lee Sci-Fi Script

China’s Tianying Media has acquired The Last Resort, a sci-fi screenplay co-written by Stan Lee and Bob Underwood, under a development agreement with POW! Entertainment.

The screenplay was partly inspired by Lee’s 1970s comic strip, The Virtue of Vera Valiant, which follows the story of a woman who inherits a resort hotel in space.

Tianying plans to produce the film as a Chinese sci-fi comedy, and hopes to be in production before the end of 2018.

“We are so excited to be working with POW! Entertainment and to be able to bring the amazing script of The Last Resort to life,” said Wu Jian, CEO of Tianying Media, “We are focusing on the Chinese market, a rapidly growing audience that is extremely hungry for new ideas and a variety of different films.”

The script was initially brought to Tianying by producers Elliot Tong and Reinhard Schreiner of Los Angeles-based Roaring China, a company that aims to connect filmmakers in Hollywood and Beijing.

Tianying Media is affiliated with China’s state-owned Tianjin North Film Group. One of its first projects as a co-financier is the forthcoming sci-fi disaster tentpole Shanghai Fortress, directed by Teng Huatao and starring Shu Qi and Lu Han. The company has a strategic distribution partnership with China Film Co.