Hong Kong's Media Asia has boarded Han Entertainment's futuristic action movie, Masked Crusader, starring Michelle Yeoh and Richie Jen, which started shooting today (March 27) in Beijing.

The $15m film is a co-production between Han, Media Asia and China's Tianjin Film Studio with the assistance of China Film Co-production Corp. Media Asia is handling distribution for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Inspired by the character of Wong Ngang - a Chinese female Robin Hood - the film stars Yeoh as a demure socialite who at night dons a mask and skin-tight leather suit to fight crime. Luke Goss (Blade II) stars as an evil mastermind who plans to take over the world using an artificial intelligence chip to broadcast messages over the largest mobile phone network in Asia. Michael Jai White (The Matrix Reloaded), Brandon Chang (The Touch) and young Korean female idol BoA have also joined the cast.

The film is directed is Jingle Ma (Tokyo Raiders, Fly Me To Polaris) from a script which he co-wrote with Susan Chan. Yeoh is producing along with her partner in Han and former Media Asia head Thomas Chung.

Principal photography will move to Shanghai next month and then Tokyo. One of the film's major scenes, to be shot over the coming weeks, will show Yeoh flying across the Great Wall of China on a motorbike.