John Woo's upcoming film about the Flying Tigers in Yunnan will star Tom Cruise, reuniting the Mission: Impossible II director and star, according to a report in Variety.

In July, Hong Kong action director Woo signed on to direct the movie, which will be called Flying Tiger Heroes (飞虎群英) in Chinese. With a projected budget of US$100 million, it will be the most expensive movie ever made in China.

At the Beijing press conference where Woo was named director of the film project, it was announced that filming would begin before the end of this year. Woo said the film will contain the most spectacular aerial battle scenes ever seen in Chinese cinema.

He added that the movie would highlight the spirit of Yunnan culture as well as Chinese heroes from World War II and the US-China friendship that led to the founding of the Flying Tigers.

Hollywood blog Rope of Silicon is reporting that Tom Cruise and scriptwriter Chris McQuarrie (Valkyrie, The Usual Suspects) were attached to the project as early as December 2008.

The Flying Tigers were a group of American pilots who helped China with its war of resistance against Japan before the US officially entered World War II. It is believed that Cruise will play the part of Claire Lee Chennault, the commander of the Flying Tigers, who is one of the most respected foreign military figures in China.

"This is an extremely important production," Woo said at the signing ceremony in July. "This Yunnan-themed film emphasizes China-US friendship and the contributions of the Flying Tigers and the people of Yunnan during the War of Resistance."

Update: It appears that the Variety article may have been jumping the gun on Cruise appearing in Woo's film, according to cinematical.com. Thanks to Colin Flahive for the tip.

John Woo and Tom Cruise image: IMDB

Hong Kong action director John Woo (吴宇森) has signed on to direct a China-Hollywood joint production about the Flying Tigers, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

The movie, which will begin filming this year, is expected to cost US$100 million, which will make it the most expensive Chinese film made to date, the report said.

A signing ceremony for the film, called "Flying Tiger Heroes" (飞虎群英) in Chinese, was held in Beijing on July 3, with Lion Rock Productions, Fengde Dadi Culture and Media Co Ltd and the Propaganda Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Yunnan provincial government all inking a cooperation agreement for the film.

Woo, director of popular action movies in Hong Kong such as "Hard Boiled" and Hollywood films including "Mission: Impossible 2", said the movie will feature the most spectacular aerial battle scenes ever seen in Chinese cinema. He added that the movie would highlight the spirit of Yunnan culture as well as Chinese heroes from World War II and the US-China friendship that led to the founding of the Flying Tigers.

Woo will have his hands full presenting an accurate account of the Flying Tigers, whose history is often misrepresented or misunderstood in both China and the US. Officially known as the American Volunteer Group, the Yunnan-based Flying Tigers flew missions against Japanese bombers and fighters from December 1941 to July 1942 in southern China and Myanmar, then known as Burma.

"This is an extremely important production," Woo said at the signing ceremony. "Currently, basic preparations for shooting work have already been made and in a month we'll confirm the script. This Yunnan-themed film emphasizes China-US friendship and the contributions of the Flying Tigers and the people of Yunnan during the War of Resistance."

Yunnan's newest airport opened Monday in Tengchong County, near the China-Myanmar border.

Tengchong Hump Airport (腾冲驼峰机场) is named after the famed route over the Himalayas flown by the American Volunteer Group (aka the Flying Tigers) and commercial airliner China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) during World War II.

Today Tengchong is a travel destination best known for its natural hot springs and the rustic old town of Heshun (和顺). The area was also a major trade hub with Burma (Myanmar) during the Ming Dynasty.

The new airport in Tengchong County, located in Tuofeng Village, currently features three daily flights connecting it with Kunming. Yunnan Airport Group spokesperson Zou Huiyu said it will also add flights connecting Tengchong with Lijiang and Jinghong.

Travel time from Kunming to Tengchong was once a 10-hour bus ride, now it is only a 50-minute flight away. Last year Tengchong received 2.88 million tourists – a number that is expected to grow this year with the opening of the new airport. Tengchong Hump Airport is expected to handle nearly 300,000 passengers this year.

Image: ynxxb.com

As domestic and international travel to Yunnan increases, the province has been rapidly expanding its aviation infrastructure. What few know is that the foundation of the province's airport network was laid more than 70 years ago by Americans and Chinese working for an often-misunderstood Chinese/American-owned commercial airline known as China National Aviation Corporation, or CNAC.

Founded in 1929 by aircraft manufacturer Curtiss-Wright, CNAC – originally known as China Airways – ran into difficulties dealing with Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government and was sold to Pan American Airways in 1933.

CNAC fared better in China under Pan Am management and began to service routes linking the US, Pan American's Pacific network, and China's major urban centers, first flying into Kunming in 1935. It was one of two commercial airlines operating in China in the 30s, the other being Lufthansa's JV with the Nationalists, Eurasia Airlines. Runways were hard to come by in China at the time, and CNAC had a competitive advantage with its several river planes, which often made water landings on the Yangtze and other waterways.

War was to quickly alter the fates of both Eurasia and CNAC. After the invasion of China by Nazi Germany's ally Japan, the Chinese military absorbed all the assets of Eurasia Airlines. By the end of 1941, CNAC was making evacuation flights as well as the dangerous supply runs between India and Kunming for which it became famous.

When the American Volunteer Group (AVG), aka the Flying Tigers, a group of volunteer fighter pilots flying for China, disbanded in July of 1942, the majority of its pilots joined CNAC rather than return to the US military. This blurred the lines between CNAC and the Flying Tigers as the 'original' Tigers were now seen in CNAC civilian uniforms.

American Diego Kusak, whose father Steve Kusak was a CNAC pilot, grew up on the Spanish island of Mallorca listening to stories about CNAC – and 1940s Kunming – told by many of the CNAC and original AVG pilots themselves. Kusak is bringing the CNAC story to Chinese museums for the first time in an exhibit featuring articles belonging to his father as well as local collector Gong Kangyi (龚康毅). 'CNAC over the Hump' is currently the featured exhibit at the Kunming Municipal Museum.

"This exhibit isn't about war, it's about the love of aviation that was behind the founding of CNAC," Kusak told GoKunming.

A major challenge for Kusak's exhibit is to clearly separate the histories of CNAC and the Flying Tigers, a name which was given to them by Kunmingers during the war, and the American military units that later came to fight and to transport over China. Most Chinese and Westerners are still unaware of the key differences between the commercial airline CNAC and the Flying Tigers, who flew missions against Japanese bombers and fighters from December 1941 to July 1942.

As Japanese forces gained ground in southern China and Burma (now Myanmar), Yunnan became a critical launching pad for both CNAC supply missions over the Himalayas - a route which became known as 'the Hump' – and AVG engagement with Japanese planes in south China and Burma. By 1942, when Allied forces came to join China in the war, Kunming became one of the major military air hubs of that time.

Kusak's exhibition is as much about the roots of aviation in Yunnan as it is about the turbulent history and politics of China and Asia in the 20th Century. Even while the Allies and the US military began to take control of most of the air routes over war torn China, CNAC managed to survive as a Chinese-owned, commercial and profitable airline. On one hand CNAC was flying under contract for the Allies, transporting weapons, soldiers, war materiel and medicines over the Hump.

On the other hand, CNAC was the only commercial airline taking passengers from Kunming into India and vice versa via the Hump route. At the time, no safer route existed out of China.

'CNAC Over The Hump' features dozens of photos plus film of China, Yunnan and Kunming in the 1930s and 40s. It will run at the Kunming Municipal Museum through the end of March. The museum is open daily from 9:30 am to 5 pm.

Plane images: CNAC Association

Steve Kusak image: Diego Kusak

The United States 'Flying Tigers' are to be commemorated by a park, soon to be built in Kunming, according to Chinese media reports. The park will be a sizeable 167 hectares, and will feature a peace gate, a friendship monument, a memorial wall and memorials to wartime figures. It will be situated near to an abandoned military airport some 20 kilometres from downtown Kunming. A Chinese/Thai/Australian joint venture will oversee the development, which is estimated to cost four billion yuan (approximately US$540m).

The American Volunteer Group, known more often by their 'Flying Tigers' nickname, were formed under General Claire Lee Chennault during the Second World War, chiefly to provide assistance to the Chinese in repelling Japanese invaders. Among other tasks, the group ran supplies across the Himalayas in so-called 'Hump' flights before being disbanded in 1942.