‘Transformers’ Producer Tom DeSanto Partners with CITIC Guoan to Invest US$120M In China-US Movie Project

Transformers producer Tom DeSanto is teaming up with Chinese investment holding company Citic Guoan Group to finance a series of China-U.S. joint film productions.

The deal, which was announced at the group’s New Bridge Film Production Base on the outskirts of Beijing at the tail-end of the Beijing International Film Festival on Friday, will see the unit of the Beijing-based conglomerate invest US$120 million into the slate.

“We are joining hands with Hollywood legend Tom DeSanto to jointly create a series of movies incorporating Chinese culture for the global audience,” Citic Guoan Group said in a statement translated by China Money Network.

“We hope that Chinese movies can appear on the global film stage to let more movie-goers appreciate Chinese culture’s long history and charm.”

DeSanto, who was also a key figure on the first two X-Men films, has been involved in the Chinese film market for some years now, but its unclear how many of those projects have reached fruition.

A much-touted big-budget project based on Chinese myth Creation Of The Gods, announced as early as 2010, and which DeSanto joined in 2011, has since seemingly not progressed.

The news comes a year after former Disney Chairman Dick Cook launched a production studio with a $150 million investment from Citic Guoan Group.

Citic Guoan is the largest industrial subsidiary of CITIC Group, established in 1987, with assets of over $15 billion. It has interests across finance, film and television, media, tourism, information, real estate, the wine industry, and research and development, according to a recent press release from the company.