Chinese studios to produce Kurosawa's shelved script

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Ye Ning, vice-president of Huayi, says the country's lackluster market last year has prompted filmmakers at home to focus more on content and quality.

More big projects to be jointly produced by the two Chinese studios were unveiled at last week's media conference in Beijing.

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, the third installment in the Detective Dee film series, will hit the big screen during the Spring Festival holiday in February next year. A tale about the Tang Dynasty (618-907) detective Di Renjie, the new movie will see actors Mark Chao, Feng Shaofeng, Lin Gengxin and actress Carina Lau reprise their roles.

Zhang Jialu, the screenwriter for all the three Detective Dee movies, says Tsui Hark, the director, is now working on building the story in Taiwan.

Mojin Returns, a sequel to the 2015 hit Mojin: The Lost Legend, will show the new adventures of three tomb explorers. The feature will be released in 2019.