Apparently, action movie icons Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan will both play a part in a new Russian-Chinese film that’s currently in production. Confused? So are we.
Last week, a single still image from the upcoming “Journey to China: The Mystery of Iron Mask” was released onto the internet, featuring a dapper Schwarzenegger chained to a very hairy Chan.
The film will actually be the sequel to “Forbidden Empire,” a Russian film that was finally released internationally last year after a decade of delays. “Viy” (it’s title in Russian, based on a horror novella from Nikolai Gogol) was a huge box office success in Russia, though it wasn’t as well-received by critics.
Apparently, though, that was enough to get it a quick green light for a sequel — thanks to some help from Chinese backers.
And producers have used that Chinese cash well, signing on Schwarzenegger and Oscar-winner Chan to play bit parts in their newest epic. It’s actually not clear what exactly the two aged action heroes are doing in the movie; however, they did not feature in the film’s first trailer which was released over the summer.
Intrigued? Here’s a quick synopsis of the movie for those who need to brush up on their Russian:
The English traveler Jonathan Green receives from Peter the Great an order to map the Russian Far East. Once again he sets out for a long journey full of incredible adventures that will eventually lead him to China.
The cartographer will unexpectedly face a lot of breathtaking discoveries, encounter bizarre creatures, meet with Chinese princesses, and confront deadly martial arts masters and even the king of all dragons – the Dragon King. What could be more dangerous than meeting eye to eye with Viy, except doing it again? What would be stronger this time – a staunch skepticism of the scientist or the old black magic that has seized power of Eastern lands?
Sounds pretty rad, huh?
Unfortunately, there is no information about when this future cinematic masterpiece will be released onto theater screens.
In fact this isn’t the first time that Chan and Schwarzenegger have starred in the same movie. Perhaps the duo will able to recreate their legendary chemistry from “Around the World in 80 Days.”
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