First Trailer for Matt Damon’s Sci-Fi ‘The Great Wall’ Debuts in China

Now they’re bringing monsters into the deep past of China.

The Great Wall of China is 5,500 miles long and took 1,700 years to build. But what were its creators trying to keep out…?

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly translated into English, Zhang noted that “first and foremost, this is an English-language film, and a Hollywood blockbuster”. Playing like a Chinese analogue to the similarly Game Of Thrones-esque Dracula Untold, the teaser trailer for the film combines high production value and goofy fantasy/horror elements for a sweeping historical epic that would make the hybrid-genre enthusiasts at The Asylum sick with envy. Even though it’s a fantasy movie, we filmed it in a very realistic way. The script for the film was penned by Oscar-nominated Michael Clayton writer and director Tony Gilroy (who also wrote the first four installments of Damon’s Jason Bourne franchise) and Narcos co-creators Chris Brancato and Doug Miro. It’s as though someone sat down and drafted a list of things required for wide release in both China and the U.S. and then constructed a film to order based on that list without actually spending any real time on whether the story made organic sense. This looks like it could be an interesting fantasy spin on history, but I’m not entirely sure that I buy Matt Damon in this kind of role just yet.

While the movie being a hit in China is pretty much a certainty, it’s going to be interesting to see if The Great Wall ends up having mainstream appeal overseas. The Great Wall also stars Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau.