“I’m an international producer,” he said. “I don’t want to make Chinese movies. I don’t know the Chinese way of storytelling. I don’t know how movies are made in China.”

The first movie by a mainland Chinese director that achieved wide global appeal was “Hero,” the 2004 swordplay spectacle directed by Mr. Zhang that earned $177 million worldwide. Mr. Zhang quickly became the favorite director of government officials and remains the most famous mainland Chinese director in the world. No movie made by a mainland director has surpassed the international earnings of “Hero.” But even to Chinese audiences, Hollywood products like “Avatar” and “Transformers” are still much more popular.

Mr. Jiang said that while Mr. Zhang and other successful Chinese directors make competent movies, they have also limited the industry by using mostly Chinese actors and story lines.

“They’re not qualified to make my movies,” he said. “The movies they make are of no value to me.”

Western brand names are still paramount in China, including in the movie business. So the makers of “Empires” claim their movie is a co-production with a Hollywood company, E-magine Studios. But the company is owned by Mr. Jiang and his friends. Another major investor in the movie is a company in Zhejiang Province.

To help open international markets, the producers are hiring foreign talent, including lots of relatively little-known American actors. The biggest star, as the mermaid queen, is Olga Kurylenko, the Ukrainian actress who appeared in the last James Bond movie. (Mr. Jiang had originally wanted Monica Bellucci or Sharon Stone, but they said no.)

“There are as many skeptics in the industry about this project as there are believers,” said Jonathan Landreth, the senior China correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter. “But one thing is for sure: If the producers pull it off  if the finished film looks like they actually spent $100 million to make it  it will begin to attract more real co-productions here, ones with actual foreign company partners, not just partners that are L.A.-based shell companies.”