Victor Ma To Star Opposite Colin Firth In STX & Tencent’s ‘New York Will Eat You Alive’

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese-American actor and rapper Victor Ma will star alongside Colin Firth in STXfilms and Tencent Pictures’ action comedy tentatively titled New York Will Eat You Alive.

We first told you about the movie last November, which is based on Jia Haibo’s Tencent digital comic book Zombie Brother. In the film, Ma will star as Bai, a successful biotech engineer who has to lead his group of friends across a New York City overrun with zombies in order to save the world.

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STX is releasing the Todd Strauss-Schulson directed film in the U.S. and UK and through its foreign output partners with Tencent distributing in China.

“Victor is a true star in the making,” said STXfilms Motion Picture Group Chairman Adam Fogelson. “He has the kind of magnetic screen presence and talent that makes casting fun. We believe this film has real franchise potential and are excited about the direction we are heading with Victor and Colin in these key roles.”

Ma is set to star in Fight Break Sphere, which is currently in production. His previous work includes a role in the Detective Chinatown web series, which is based on the $1.4 billion grossing Chinese film franchise. He is also well-known in the PRC for his appearance on the first season of Tencent’s idol competition program The Coming One, where he ranked second, as well as the second season of Tencent’s acting competition program, Everybody Stand By. As a rapper/musician, he is known for his EP, “The Textbook”, which consists of four songs: “Do My Thing”, “FOR FREE”, “KIDS”, “W.T.F (Way Too Fast) featuring TAO & Young13Dbaby” and hit singles: “I AM AWAKE”, “SO WHAT”, and “Domination”.

Dan Gregor and Doug Mand are making current revisions on Alex Rubens’ script for New York Will Eat You Alive. The pic is co-produced by Tencent Pictures, STXfilms, and Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, and Peter Kiernan’s Free Association. Since 2011, the digital comic book has garnered more than 28 billion views over 516 episodes, and its animated series has attracted more than 3.7 billion views across its first two seasons. The franchise has also been adapted into a popular stage play, which had a record-breaking run of sold out shows across the region.

Tatum, Carolin, Kiernan and Michael Parets are producing for Free Association. Edward Cheng and Ken Zou are attached as EP, along with Wenxin She producing and overseeing for Tencent. Conor Zorn will serve as an independent producer, while Strauss-Schulson serve as EP. Ged Doherty is producing through his production company Above The Line Productions. Drew Simon is overseeing the production for STXfilms along with Katie Zhao.

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