Beijing-based Le Vision Pictures announced that it has acquired mainland Chinese distribution rights to Lionsgate’s The Expendables 2.

Le Vision plans to release the film day-and-date with its US release on August 17. It’s understood that Le Vision and the film’s producers, Nu Image/Millennium Films, initially explored setting the project up as a US-China co-production but finally settled on releasing it in China as an import.

The first film in the franchise, The Expendables, was imported into China on a flat-fee basis in 2010 and became one of the biggest flat-fee imports of that year grossing $31.74m. Le Vision did not reveal details of the import deal for The Expendables 2.  

Le Vision also released details of its upcoming production slate at a press event at the Beijing International Film Festival on April 25.

Li Weiran, director of Le Vision’s 2010 production Welcome To Shama Town, will work again with the company on a contemporary comedy about business espionage tentatively titled Welcome To CBD. 

Le Vision will also work with Hong Kong filmmaker Gordon Chan on a thriller set in Hong Kong during WWII.  The company has also acquired film adaptation rights to popular local stage play Mahua Fun Age and is scheduled to release the film version during China’s year-end movie season.

The company is also co-producing previously announced projects The Bullet Vanishes with Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures and Danny Pang’s The Fairytale Killer and Oxide Pang’s The Detective 2 with Hong Kong’s Universe Films.

Le Vision also announced a partnership with Hong Kong’s Sil-Metropole Organization to co-produce and co-finance eight films in the coming two years, including Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassins and a crime thriller from Hong Kong’s Kenneth Bi starring Daniel Wu. Huayi Brothers is also co-financing the Bi project.

The company also announced that is has secured a loan from Bank of Beijing of $79m (RMB500m) to support the company’s film production and distribution business over the next three years.

Le Vision Pictures is a sister company of China’s Internet TV company LeTV.com, which distributes films, TV dramas, short films and user-generated content on its internet platform.

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