Galloping Horse hires Chen, lines up co-pros

Beijing Galloping Horse, which has appointed former Ivanhoe co-chief Ray Chen as general manager, is lining up two US-China co-productions with producers Jerry Weintraub (Ocean’s Eleven) and Cameron Jones (Traffic).

Weintraub is executive producing martial arts action title Legion Of One, to be directed by Christopher Cain (Young Guns). Cain’s Angry Monkey Entertainment is the US producer on the project, about a foreign orphan who is raised as a kung-fu master in the Shaolin temple.

Jones is producing musical romantic comedy Forever Young, to be directed by Eric Stoltz, which is in the early stages of development.

Galloping Horse is also developing three Chinese projects – New York-set youth dram, Lost In New York, to be directed by newcomer Frank Zhu; Love From Another Planet to be directed by Huang Lei (Angry Kid) and executive produced by Zhang Yibai; and a feature version of hit TV series Legend Of Zhen Huan.

Galloping Horse recently went through an ownership battle following the death of founder Li Ming early last year and is now headed by Li’s two sisters.

Chen said he is positioning the company as a “solid content provider that will specialise in helping co-production projects and working with new talent.”