Filmart: Jackie Chan, Wu Jing to Star in Chinese Mountain Climbing Epic (Exclusive)

Tentatively titled 'Climbers,' the film tells the real-life story of the first Chinese mountaineers to summit Mount Everest.

China's biggest action stars are teaming to conquer Mount Everest.

Hong Kong legend Jackie Chan and Chinese box-office champion Wu Jing are set to co-star in an epic action film about the first Chinese mountaineers to summit the world's tallest peak.

Tentatively titled Climbers in English, the pic will be directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Daniel Lee and produced by Shanghai Film Group.

The film will dramatize the real-life expedition of Chinese climbers Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua, who made a historic ascent up Mount Everest's North Ridge in 1960. The Chinese team was the first to successfully climb Everest's north side, which is known to be especially perilous. The trio famously left a small statue of Chairman Mao atop the summit before returning midway down the mountain to rescue a fourth member of their team who was unable to complete the climb.

Alongside Wu and Chan, the two other climbers in the group will be played by popular young actor Jing Boran (Monster Hunt, Us and Them) and television star Hu Ge (Chinese Paladin, 1911). Actress Zhang Ziyi rounds out the star-studded cast as a Chinese meteorologist who assists the mission.

Climbers appears to fit the nationalistic action-hero persona both Wu and Chan have cultivated in their recent blockbuster film work. A minor star of Hong Kong action cinema for nearly two decades, Wu broke out as a huge A-list name in Mainland China in 2017 thanks to the historic success of the military action flick Wolf Warrior 2, which he wrote, directed and starred in. The film earned $870 million and remains China's biggest blockbuster of all time. Wu returned to the screen in February as the star of The Wandering Earth, China's first sci-fi blockbuster, which has earned $655 million to date.

Climbers is currently shooting in China and is expected to be released either on China's patriotic National Day holiday or during Chinese New Year in 2020.

Karen Chu contributed to this story.