Racing movie Speedhunters to film in China
Racing action movie Speedhunters will film in Shanghai, at Studio Babelsberg in Germany and in other locations around the world.
By Nick Goundry 6 Apr 2017
Racing action movie Speedhunters will film in Shanghai, at Studio Babelsberg in Germany and in other locations around the world.
Speedhunters is set in the near-future and follows road racers caught in the intrigue surrounding a revolutionary new technology.
The film will be made by US production company Di Bonaventura Pictures and Chinese firms Jiaflix Pictures and 1905 Pictures, which is part of China Movie Channel.
Producers are seeking official US-China co-production status, which will enable the film to bypass China’s strict annual quotas on international film releases in the country.
“Speedhunters has all the tenets of a global franchise with its action sequences, visual effects, relatable characters and a storyline that takes ordinary people through a journey of extraordinary circumstances,” said producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
Di Bonaventura is also a producer on Paramount’s Transformers franchise. Scenes for the 2014 entry Transformers: Age of Extinction were filmed in Hong Kong and on mainland China.
Speedhunters will be directed by Rob Cohen, who launched both the xXx and The Fast and the Furious action franchises.
Germany’s Studio Babelsberg formed a strategic alliance with Shanghai Film Group last year, with stated goals including developing an international production services infrastructure and helping modernise Shanghai Film Group’s studio facilities. In February this year Babelsberg also made a co-operation agreement with Wuxi Studio in the Chinese city of Wuxi west of Shanghai.
More US productions are planning Chinese shoots. The big-budget monster movie Pacific Rim: Uprising recently filmed at Wanda Studios Qingdao north of Shanghai on China’s east coast and Dwayne Johnson’s disaster movie Skyscraper is set to film in the country from this August.
The Qingdao studios are currently only partially open but last autumn authorities announced filming incentives of up to 40% for productions shooting at the expansive facility.
Images: iStock.com/pat138241/chuyu.
The film will be made by US production company Di Bonaventura Pictures and Chinese firms Jiaflix Pictures and 1905 Pictures, which is part of China Movie Channel.
Producers are seeking official US-China co-production status, which will enable the film to bypass China’s strict annual quotas on international film releases in the country.
“Speedhunters has all the tenets of a global franchise with its action sequences, visual effects, relatable characters and a storyline that takes ordinary people through a journey of extraordinary circumstances,” said producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
Di Bonaventura is also a producer on Paramount’s Transformers franchise. Scenes for the 2014 entry Transformers: Age of Extinction were filmed in Hong Kong and on mainland China.
Speedhunters will be directed by Rob Cohen, who launched both the xXx and The Fast and the Furious action franchises.
Germany’s Studio Babelsberg formed a strategic alliance with Shanghai Film Group last year, with stated goals including developing an international production services infrastructure and helping modernise Shanghai Film Group’s studio facilities. In February this year Babelsberg also made a co-operation agreement with Wuxi Studio in the Chinese city of Wuxi west of Shanghai.
More US productions are planning Chinese shoots. The big-budget monster movie Pacific Rim: Uprising recently filmed at Wanda Studios Qingdao north of Shanghai on China’s east coast and Dwayne Johnson’s disaster movie Skyscraper is set to film in the country from this August.
The Qingdao studios are currently only partially open but last autumn authorities announced filming incentives of up to 40% for productions shooting at the expansive facility.
Images: iStock.com/pat138241/chuyu.
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