Who would have thought that Mainland Chinese pop star Wang Leehom would get to play a superhero?
Film Business Asia has reported that Wang has earned the opportunity to take on the role of the Asian Marvel superhero, Annihilator. The news comes six months after the film was announced back in February, to be produced by creator Stan Lee, along with Barry Josephson and Douglas Falconer for Magic Storm Entertainment along with China’s state-run National Film Capital co-financing the film’s previously reported budget of $150 million.
As.
Hero Complex writes, the film will
“focus on the story of a young Chinese man forced to leave his hometown in mainland China amid dramatic circumstances. After time in the United States, he returns home in the guise of the Annihilator, who uses his extraordinary powers to save the world and also explore his roots. One official description added that the character would be “a young Chinese man given a second chance as an international superhero, who returns home to mete out justice.”
Screenwriter Dan Gilroy has been officially attached to the film, with a director still pending. Gilroy’s credits include the 1992 time travel thriller, Freejack, the 2011 robot boxing hit, Real Steel, and the 2012 espionage thriller, The Bourne Legacy.
Among his film credits, Wang is no stranger to action either, having starred in the video game inspired sci-fi fantasy adventure, The Avenging Fist, directed by Andrew Lau and Corey Yuen. Wang also starred in the period war epic, Little Big Soldier with Jackie Chan, and the high-octane Hong Kong action thriller, China Strike Force with Aaron Kwok, Noriko Fujiwara, Mark Dacascos and Coolio.
Wang, a Rochester, New York native who made his career in Asia, is also
one of several celebrities from China slated to become household names over the next few years through Hollywood/China film productions. Actress
Tang Wei will join him along with
Chris Hemsworth,
Viola Davis and
Holt McCallany in the new
Michael Mann sci-fi thriller,
Cyber. Actress
Bingbing Fan, who earned herself a role in
Iron Man 3 will soon appear in the upcoming film,
X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Actor and pop star
Han Geng was also recently cast in Michael Bay’s tentatively titled
Transformers 4 movie starring
Mark Wahlberg, along with
Resident Evil: Retribution co-star,
Bingbing Li.
Wang Leehom will soon appear with Fan in the upcoming action adventure rom-com,
My Lucky Star, starring
Zhang Ziyi, and directed by
Dennie Gordon in her debut as the first filmmaker to helm a project for the Chinese market.
Annhilator is expected to release in 2015. Stick around for more updates as details continue to develop.
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Photos: D-Addicts, Podcast On Fire
