Edward Zwick has signed on to direct Legendary Easts first project,The Great Wall,the company announced recently. Marshall Herskovitz Zwicks producing and writing partner will write the screenplay with the filmmaker. The movie is based on a story by Legendary Entertainments chairman and CEO,Thomas Tull and World War Z writer Max Brooks. According to Legendary East,The Great Wall reveals the legend behind a great mystery of our age: why this magnificent structure came to be. In a written statement,Legendary Entertainments chief creative officer,Jon Jashni,said,Our partnership with Ed and Marshall is indicative of the creative ambition and financial commitment we are bringing to Legendary East not next year or next month,but today. He said that the movie exemplifies the type of globally appealing,commercial movie we intend to have Legendary East become known for. Jashni,Tull,Zwick,Herskovitz and Charles Roven (The Dark Knight Rises,Man Of Steel) and Alex Gartner of Atlas Entertainment will produce the film. Legendary Easts co-production partner,Huayi Brothers,will distribute the movie in China. Warner Bros.,where Legendary has a deal. Zwick is known for big,sweeping movies. He and Herskovitz wrote and produced The Last Samurai and Zwick directed Love And Other Drugs,Blood Diamond and Defiance. He and Herskovitz were nominated for an Academy Award for producing Traffic. Legendary Entertainment launched Legendary East this past June to make movies for a worldwide audience. The company is based in Hong Kong and has Chinese management. Its goal is to develop and produce English language films that tap into the powerful fandom demographic and draw on Legendarys Chinese ties. The idea is to make movies that have a worldwide audience and that are commercial viable in China. Recently Legendary also announced that it was getting $220 million in funding from Hong Kongs Paul Y Engineering Group. Legendary East is one of a trio of companies that have recently launched initiatives to market movies to China.
