Beijing-based Huayi Bros Pictures is producing a martial arts comedy Zhui Ying to be directed by Hong Kong actor Francis Ng. Jaycee Chan (The Sun Also Rises), actor and son of Jackie Chan, will be the leading cast in the film playing a martial arts fighter Xu Sanguan.

Huayi is yet to announce the English title of Zhui Ying, which literally means 'chasing the shadows' in Chinese. According to Wang Zhonglei, CEO of Huayi Bros Pictures, the film will pay tribute to martial arts classics of the 1970s such as King Hu's Dragon Inn and Come Drink With Me, Chang Cheh's The One-armed Swordsman, Yuen Chor's Ai Nu and Drunken Fist II by Kar-leung Lau.

The story revolves around a gathering of kung-fu masters from different parts of China at a desert inn to unravel a mystery. Kuang Tinghe, whose credits include Kungfu Hip-hop, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Ultraviolet, will serve as DoP.

Huayi Bros will fully finance the $2.5m film. Shooting will start by the end of the year in Beijing in time for a release in summer 2009.

Meanwhile, Huayi Bros has also confirmed that is has brought forward the release date of Feng Xiaogang's romantic comedy If You Are the One to Dec 18, one week earlier than the original schedule.

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