Brand China in leading role on Transformers set

Director Michael Bay has used many Chinese locations for the movie, including the Great Wall, a luxury hotel in Beijing, the city of Tianjin, and Wulong in the southwest of the country, known for its mountains. He has also filmed on the bustling streets of Hong Kong.

Bay said the Hong Kong scenes will comprise one-third of the film’s length, while those in Wulong will last for two-and-a-half minutes.

The shooting in China was completed on Monday.

Another location outside the United States was used for the movie, but Moore is giving nothing away, saying only that it is a "very cold place".

The film also features a host of Chinese actors, with Bay saying that actress Li Bingbing, who starred in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, will appear in the movie for 30 minutes.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a 2011 historical drama movie based on the novel of the same name by Lisa See.

Some of the Chinese actors in the new Transformers film appear in supporting roles, including four newcomers to the industry selected from a reality TV show organized by the Movie Channel. Three female farmers played impromptu roles in the scenes shot in Wulong.

Despite the heavy involvement of Chinese elements in the film, it is not an official co-production, meaning it is not exempt from the country’s annual quota of 34 imported films, and its revenue share should be no more than 25 percent of the gross earnings.

The film is widely expected to be a box office hit. The previous Transformers movie, which was screened in China in 2011, earned 1.09 billion yuan ($179 million), making the country the highest-grossing overseas market for the film.

Moore thinks it is possible the new film may even equal the success of Pacific Rim, the 2013 US science fiction monster movie, which has grossed more in China than in North America.

"In terms of the popularity of this franchise and its expansion in the Chinese market, it is certainly possible," he said.

Asked if there will be a special version of the movie for Chinese audiences, as in the case of Iron Man 3, Bay said there will be only one version worldwide.

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