Chow’s CJ7 Puts China on VFX Map

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actor/director Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) says his upcoming sci-fi comedy, CJ7, will feature digital effects produced in China that will hold their own against those hatched in Hollywood and elsewhere in the world. The movie is reportedly the first live-action Chinese production to include a completely CG character. Budgeted at around $20 million, it will also be one of the country’s most expensive films.

The second collaboration between Chow’s Star Overseas and Sony Pictures Ent., CJ7 will tell the story of a poor laborer and his son, who have their lives turned upside-down with the arrival of an alien that takes the form of a dog. Chow tells the trade that the movie is highly influenced by Spielberg’s E.T: The Extra Terrestrial, which he saw repeatedly as a child. Effects were created by Hong Kong vfx shop Menfond Electronic Art, which contributed to Disney’s 3-D reissue of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Set to open on Jan 31. in China and Hong Kong, CJ7 is expected to break Asian box office records like Kung Fu Hustle, which grossed more than $100 million worldwide in 2004. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in the U.S. on March 7.