Arclight Films has picked up international rights excludingAsia to Dragon Squad, a US$4.5m martial arts action film which marks thefirst time that Steven Seagal has produced an Asian picture.

The film, produced by Hong Kong's Visualizer FilmProductions, starts shooting March 23 with Daniel Lee directing and ChinKar-lok as action director. Seagal is co-producing through Bangkok-based WorldMedia, in which he is partnered with US-born producer Jimmy Moy. Visualizer'sCatherine Hun and Bey Logan will produce.

The contemporary martial arts action title revolves around ateam of young Interpol agents who take on local gangsters and North Koreanmercenaries in Hong Kong. The film stars Hong Kong action veteran Sammo Hung,US action star Michael Biehn (Art Of War, The Terminator) and Koreanactress Jun-ho Heo. Simon Yam, Andy On and Vanness Wu have also joined thecast.

Arclight will commence sales on the film at next week's HongKong International Film and TV Market (FilMart). Hong Kong's Mei AhEntertainment is handling Asian territories.

Meanwhile, Visualizer and World Media are also developing ThreeKingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon, which will be Lee's next projectafter Dragon Squad. The $10-15m film, which is based on the same seriesof Chinese novels as John Woo's upcoming Battle Of Red Cliff, isscheduled to start shooting before the end of the year. Arclight is handlinginternational sales.

The two companies are also working with Hong Kong's MandarinFilms on Wilson Yip's $5m Dragon Tiger Gate, one of 28 projects featuredin the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) which runs concurrently withFilMart.

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