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Matt Damon’s upcoming fantasy epic The Great Wall is being touted as the biggest production in China’s filmmaking history. With an estimated budget of $160 million that could rival a Hollywood tentpole, The Great Wall may well become the standard-bearer for an expected influx of joint China-U.S. co-productions.

The first English-language film by Zhang Yimou — the renowned Chinese auteur behind Hero and The House of Flying Daggers — The Great Wall is a mash-up between the director’s richly colorful epics, and what Damon described as a “creature feature.” From the little we’ve gleaned from the film’s teasers, the fantasy narrative in The Great Wall proposes that the titular monument was built to keep out a horde of invading monsters.

Damon, whose star power is viewed as integral to the film’s overseas success, has been the focus of its publicity outside of China — and not all of it good. The choice to cast Damon has inevitably created its fair share of controversy, with accusations of whitewashing (and criticism of the film’s perceived perpetuation of the white savior trope) dogging The Great Wall in the U.S.

The film and its star exemplify the precarious nature of the burgeoning relationship between China and Hollywood, which is changing film production — and creating a new breed of international stars.

Matt the Martian

American film stars carry even more power in China than they do in Hollywood. Chinese cinema-goers have almost salvaged domestic bombs such as Terminator Genisys and The Last Witch Hunter due to the pulling power of stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vin Diesel.

Damon has also benefitted from an adapting Chinese audience that has grown more sophisticated thanks to an increase in film distribution. Last year, the mainland’s movie-going market grew an astounding 48.7 percent, hitting a record of $6.8 billion (44 billion Yuan). To satisfy demand, more theaters are being built in suburban and rural areas; in 2015, 15 new screens opened every day in China. By late 2017, the country is predicted to overtake the U.S. to become the biggest film market in the world.

The burgeoning relationship between China and Hollywood is changing film production and creating a new breed of international stars.

This year has had its misfires. There have been domestic failures, with a number of local films struggling to find an audience. Meanwhile, China’s homegrown record-shattering hit The Mermaid became the latest casualty of distributor apathy in the U.S.

To buck this trend, China is looking toward Hollywood, whose productions currently occupy five slots on this year’s list of the top 10 highest-grossing films at the Chinese box office — including global juggernauts Zootopia and Captain America: Civil War. Hollywood’s success is all the more remarkable in light of China’s quota on foreign films (currently restricted to just 34 releases per year).

Hollywood has long been lampooned for pandering to China, whether cutting scenes to bypass its strict censors or — in the case of Transformers: Age of Extinction — shooting large segments in the country. Now China has adopted the strategy, with a focus on hiring American acting talent. This form of pandering was on display in Dragon Blade, a historical action film that saw Adrien Brody and John Cusack cast alongside Jackie Chan, and in Yimou’s The Flowers of War, a sweeping melodrama starring Christian Bale. Damon’s appearance in The Great Wall is the latest example of China tapping into Hollywood talent to gain a foothold overseas.

Damon’s near-silent turn as the eponymous hero in this summer’s Jason Bourne resonated with Chinese audiences accustomed to seeing all-action stars, such as Schwarzenegger and Diesel, at their local multiplex. However, it was his role as a lone spaceman in last fall’s The Martian that surprisingly made a lasting impression.