The four co-producers behind pan-Asian historicalepic Battle OfWisdom officially unveiled the production at a press conference in Beijingtoday.

Japan'sComstock and South Korea's Boram Entertainment have joined previously announcedpartners Huayi Brothers from mainland China and Hong Kong's Sundream MotionPictures in the $16m film.

Directed by Hong Kong director Jacob Cheung, the film started productionlast month and is tentatively scheduled for release next summer. One of Hong Kong's biggest stars, Andy Lau, heads the cast whichalso includes Korean star Ahn Sung-kee (Silmido) and China'sWang Zhiwen and Fan Bingbing.

Behind-the-scenes talent includes Japanese DoP Yoshitaka Sakamoto, Hong Kong action choreographer Stephen TungWei, Oscar-winning art director Tim Yip and Chinesecostume designer Tong Huamiao who has worked onseveral films with Zhang Yimou.

Adapted from a popular Japanese manga,Battle Of Wisdom(working title) is based on events during China'sWarring States period when the tiny Kingdom of Liang fought against a 15,000-strong armyby applying the defense strategies of the philosopherMozi.

The Chinese-language production highlights thegrowing trend towards big-budget features that combine cast and crew from China, Korea and Japan. Boram was also a co-producer of TsuiHark's Veniceopener Seven Swords which featured aKorean actress, Kim So-yeon, alongside Hong Kong stars Donnie Yen, Leon Lai and Charlie Young.

While most of the major Asian territories arecovered by Battle Of Wisdom'sco-producers, the four partners are still discussing their distributionstrategy in other international territories.