Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) is set to direct The Great Chinese Art Heist for Warner Bros., with Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley, Easter Sunday) and his Crab Club production company partners, Emmy winner Jessica Gao (Rick & Morty, She-Hulk) and Ken Cheng (Wilfred, Sin City Saints) attached to write the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The Great Chinese Art Heist will be adapted from Alex Palmer’s 2018 GQ article, recounting “a series of sometimes intricate and cinematic thefts from museums and palaces across Europe of Chinese arts and Antiquities.”
As the outlet notes, many of the stolen items “came from a time when European armies had invaded and looted the Chinese Empire, with many coming from the sacking of the Old Summer Palace in 1840, one of the most humiliating times in Chinese history.”
Palmer’s article addressed numerous questions, including whether museums should return the ancient pieces, if the government had a “stealth plan” in place to reacquire the items, or “could patriotic Chinese billionaires be behind” the thefts?
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Chu will produce the feature adaptation along with his Electric Somewhere Co. partner Lance Johnson. GQ Studios is also producing.
