STX Entertainment and Alibaba Pictures join forces on multi-platform actioner Steel Soldiers
STX Entertainment and Alibaba Pictures announced today that they will partner to co-develop and co-produce Steel Soldiers, an upcoming adrenaline-pumping action-sci-fi film. STX will handle U.S. and international distribution, with Alibaba Pictures retaining rights in Greater China. Plans to expand the project beyond theatrical and onto other platforms are also underway.
Steel Soldiers aims to immerse audiences into a futuristic world where humans and androids fight shoulder to shoulder, challenging the fundamental question of a soldier’s humanity in a newfound way. In the film, a disgraced Special Forces officer is forced to train a new team of high-tech but imperfect android soldiers, turn them into “real” elite military officers, and lead them in a deadly mission to rescue the robot’s creator.
Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away, Flight), Jack Rapke (Cast Away, Flight) and Jackie Levine (Allied, The Walk) will produce under their ImageMovers label, along with David Styne (Love Means Zero), from an original screenplay written by Ken Kaufman (The Missing, Space Cowboys). Zemeckis and Rapke are represented by WME. Kaufman is represented by Wicked Curve and attorney Keith Fleer. Sheroum Kim, SVP of Production, will oversee the project for STXfilms. Shujin Lan-Shuster, Senior Executive of International Productions, will oversee the project for Alibaba PIctures.
The project will leverage STX’s multi-platform content making, marketing and distribution capabilities and expertise, as well as Alibaba Pictures’ access to cutting-edge technology, innovative e-commerce approach and the tremendous consumer insights in being part of Alibaba Group’s vast ecosystem.
Zhang Wei, President of Alibaba Pictures, stated: “Alibaba Pictures is committed to bringing the most exciting content to China and beyond. We are delighted to partner with STX on Steel Soldiers, a project with global commercial appeal and cross-platform potential.”
Adam Fogelson, Chairman of STXFilms, also chimed in saying that, “Alibaba is a trailblazer in today’s highly competitive and rapidly changing consumer marketplace. Together, we look forward to immersing audiences in the battlefield of the future.”
