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The crowdfunded dark comedy sci-fi series "Iron Sky" now has more money for production due to investment from China for its third installment.

A poster is released for "Iron Sky: The Ark." [Photo / China.org.cn]

China Film Corporation Limited, Jiabo Culture Development Co. Ltd, Iron Sky Universe are producing in association with Pan Pan Pictures Co Ltd and Longevity International Enterprises Ltd the Chinese-Finnish-Canadian co-production "Iron Sky: The Ark."

The film is expected to be shot in autumn 2017 in Beijing with a budget of US$25 million, and will be directed by Timo Vuorensola, who directed both "Iron Sky" and its sequel "Iron Sky The Coming Race." Dalan Musson wrote the screenplay with Max Wang (Wang Weimin), Timo Vuorensola and Hongyang Yu. Max Wang, Tero Kaukomaa and May He are producing. The cast will be announced soon.

"Iron Sky: The Ark" is a new installment in the Iron Sky franchise and tells the story of two Chinese university dropout audiophiles who set out on a quest to decode a mysterious message received from the Moon, but find themselves fighting against the mother of all conspiracy theories – the secret organization Illuminati. The visual effects will be produced by the Oscar-winning VFX house Pixomondo, according to its release.

"Iron Sky: The Ark" was presented for the international press for the first time at the Berlin Film Market, where the filmmakers released the first teaser trailer and a poster for the film at a special event.

"It's a great pleasure to get to work with the booming Chinese film market on a fun and clever science-fiction action script," director Timo Vuorensola said.

"Hollywood has saved the world more than 30 times or so; now it's turn for China to save the world," screen writer and producer Max Wang said. Wang was producer on French director Jean-Jacques Annaud's "Wolf Totem" in 2015, which grossed over US$110 million at the Chinese box office.

He has crafted the script for "Iron Sky 3" over two and half years. He revealed that most scenes will be shot in China and that Chinese will play the leading characters. Moreover, China's ancient myth legends will be retold in the modern sci-fi, with classic characters and elements appearing in the film, such as Chang'e, the Chinese goddess in the moon, and Houyi, the mythological Chinese archer.

Wang believed that 2017 will be the real Year One for Chinese science fiction movie. "We have to do genre innovation to improve the Chinese film industry and films' qualities."

The first Iron Sky installment was a Nazis on the moon spoof. It began production in early 2006 and the production team took their teaser trailer of the film to the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, seeking co-financiers. Iron Sky is one of a new wave of productions produced in collaboration with an on-line community of film enthusiasts, creating participatory cinema. Its sequel "Iron Sky The Coming Race," starring Lara Rossi, Tom Green, Julia Dietze, Vladimir Burlakov and Udo Kier, will be released in 2017, and the project was funded by the Finnish Film Foundation and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenbur, as well as partially funded by fans through various crowdfunding campaigns.