A Chinese company is planning to make a film that would rival James Cameron‘s hit 3D spectacular Avatar, Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
Titled Bainiaoyi, the movie is based on the folklore of the Zhuang ethnic minority, a culture designated with national heritage importance by the Chinese Ministry of Culture.
Xinhua says the plot will revolve around a young man named Guka who tries to find the “bainiaoyi” — a magical piece of clothing — to help him defeat an evil dragon plaguing the Zhuang people.
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The film will be produced by Beijing Chinese Century Media Company, and some heavy-duty talent has been drafted in to make the movie a reality, including special effects directors from Avatar and Pirates of the Caribbean as well as a scriptwriter from Terminator 2 and How to Train Your Dragon, all of which have been big hits in China.
Zhao Song, general manager of Beijing Chinese Century Media Company, said: “The goal of our team is to make Bainiaoyi an epic [Asian] romantic fantasy movie that can rival Avatar.”
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Zhao added that he hopes that Bainiaoyi will become the best movie representation of Chinese classical culture ever released globally.
At a launch event this weekend, the film’s producers said shooting would start in May of 2015 in the Hengxian County of South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The film will debut in the regional capital Nanning at the end of 2016.
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