All lined up and ready for their Lord of the Rings-style computer generated battle scene.
Avi Arad, producer of Sony’s Marvel superhero movies, is heading to China! See, it’s recently dawned on Hollywood that there are around 1.3 billion people in China, and wouldn’t it be swell if they watched more western movies? It’s the reason why an increasing number of Hollywood blockbusters (The Dark Knight and Skyfall for instance) feature one scene conspicuously (and kind of randomly) set in China.
Well, Avi and Sony aren’t content with tossing out the occasional Chinese scene here and there; they’re looking to develop a series of franchises based on Chinese folklore. Movies, TV, video games, merchandising — the whole nine yards.
So, what’s the first bit of Chinese culture set to be exploited er, I mean, developed? Well, the world-renowned Terracotta Army will star in The Rise of the Terracotta Warriors. Kind of an odd choice, since the Terracotta Army are just a bunch of clay statues a crazy Emperor built to make his tomb look cool. I’m just not sure Chinese serfs painstakingly crafting thousands of statues over a span of decades is going to be all that thrilling, but hey, I’ve been wrong before.
via io9