Reasurring the martial arts action cinema fandom for years to come, producer Shannon McIntosh is reportedly pairing up with UK-based GFM Films genre shingle, Evolution Pictures.
A four-picture deal is in place with two productions in Thailand, and another two in North America. Details are pending on the respective titles, casting crewing as the team readies for an early 2020 start.
Andreas Wiseman brought the exclusive over to Deadline and elucidates the buzzy bits with quotes from McIntosh and partner H. Daniel Gross (Halloween: Resurrection).
According to the team, the movies will feature a mix of “new young martial arts talent and well-established American & Asian stars of the genre.”
Gross served as Senior VP Programming and Production for Blackbelt TV from summer 2012 through late 2014.
McIntosh is coming off of immense success of having produced director Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, which garnered nearly $240 million dollars since its theater run on July 26. Included in its narrative was the appearance of actor and martial artist Mike Moh whose portrayal of Bruce Lee gave the fans a rousing discussion in the last several weeks.
McIntosh also produced Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, and served as executive producer on the 2012 Jamie Foxx starrer, Django Unchained. She and Gross are also working on a martial arts-themed series according to Wiseman who quotes them as follows:
“Joining forces with GFM on this slate is thrilling for all of us. Martial arts have a deep history in cinema, and these projects present an exciting opportunity to bring action-packed genre films grounded in strong scripts to the screen. There’s an audience for these films, and a dedicated one at that. There’s a true love for martial arts films, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to enter the arena with Evolution Pictures & GFM by our side.”
McIntosh and Gross are ripe for the occasion as their timing couldn’t be any better to employ martial arts talent. After covering the genre for seven years on this platform with a heavy eye on the stunt community, it’s worth noting, everytime, that the talent is out there. And, I actually look forward to hearing some good news from friends after this.
Fred Hedman of Evolution said, “We are delighted to be working with Shannon and Dan to bring this unique opportunity to the marketplace. These four English-language kung fu/action movies will showcase new young martial arts talent, whilst at the same time drawing on well-established American & Asian stars of the genre. This venture furthers our ambitions for Evolution Pictures in becoming an established production arm and genre label of GFM Films and we could not be more excited.”
GFM will be handling unveiling its quartet with world sales underway by launch day of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival in nine days as of this post.