Canada's Movie Plus, China Film Group and Beijing and LA-based Xinhua Media Entertainment (XME) are joining forces to co-produce a $30m live-action version of the Chinese classic folk take Mulan.

The film is expected to start shooting in China in the first half of next year. XME head David Lee is producing along with Movie Plus' Christopher Brough and Stephen Waterman.

Arclight Films' Easternlight label is handling international sales on the film and will announce further details of the project, including the director, at the upcoming American Film Market (AFM). Hong Kong's Salon Films will provide production services for the shoot.

Xinhua Media Entertainment is the film financing and production subsidiary of Beijing-based XFMedia Group. The company has a strategic alliance with China Film Group to collaborate on the production, distribution and international sales of Chinese films, including Sino-US co-productions.

Lee has credits as a producer including The Forbidden Kingdom and was formerly the head of The Weinstein Company's Asian Film Fund.

Access Asia, the film fund which Movie Plus' Brough established with Salon Films' Fred Wang and UK producer John Heyman, is not so far involved in Mulan.

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