New Sino-French action film

Actress Ni Ni in The Warriors Gate. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Sino-French production, which has Taiwan actor Mark Chao along with mainland actress Ni Ni and Hong Kong actor Francis Ng, has been written and produced by Besson.

At a promotional event in Beijing on Tuesday, the film's director Matthias Hoene said he was a fan of top Chinese filmmakers Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou.

Hoene said The Warriors Gate fulfilled his dream of making a film that presents Chinese culture and history.

Set in a fictional kingdom, the story follows a teenager's travel back to an ancient world in which he helps a female ruler fight her enemies. All the film's dialogues are in English.

Ni, known for Zhang's directorial war epic The Flowers of War, said the new action film will likely resonate with Western moviegoers because of the language.

Chao, who has a lot of action scenes in it, said he was injured during filming.

Besson wasn't present at the event as he has been busy producing Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a French sci-fi that is set for release in July 2017.