Taiwan-based Double Edge Entertainment has picked up North American rights to Wilson Yip’s $20m A Chinese Ghost Story.

Producer Golden Sun is handling the rest of the world.

The supernatural martial arts film is based on an ancient Chinese myth which has been made into numerous films and TV series. In Yip’s version, rising action star Crystal Liu plays a female ghost who falls in love with a spirit hunter played by Yu Shao Qun.

The film is currently in post-production and China Film Group is scheduled to release it in China in summer next year.

Yip recently directed Ip Man and its sequel Ip Man 2 which grossed more than $15m and $40m respectively in mainland China. Liu previously starred in The Forbidden Kingdom, while Yu played the young Mei Lanfang in Chen Kaige’s Forever Enthralled.

The film is produced and financed by Kathy Lan’s Golden Sun whose previous production, Gordon Chan’s Painted Skin, also featured a supernatural theme. “For years everyone has always said they couldn’t make movies about ghosts in China but times are changing,” said Double Edge distribution chief Steve Chicorel.

Lan said: “This film is a totally new take on past pictures of the same name, to begin with, with a $20m budget that you will see on the screen, and for the first time the hero is a woman.”

Double Edge will be screening footage from the film for buyers here at the AFM.

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