Disney working on panda picture in China

Shanghai -- The Walt Disney Studios and Chinese filmmakers Castle Hero Pictures and Ying Dong Media say they are teaming up on the new movie "Touch of the Panda."

The project was announced Sunday at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
To be shot in Sichuan, China, the film is to feature giant pandas bred and nurtured at the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve. The movie is to be made with the facility's official cooperation and supervision.

The live-action movie is about a panda cub separated from his mother and eventually rescued by a young orphaned boy, who realizes the best thing he can do for the cub is to help him find his way home.

Daichi Harashima plays the boy in the film, which is being directed by Chinese director Yu Zhong.

"We're thrilled to be working with a team of talented filmmakers on this exciting film for Chinese moviegoers of all ages, as well as for audiences around the world," Jason Reed, executive vice president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture production, said in a statement.

"'Touch of the Panda' follows in the tradition of Disney's most memorable family films, and takes audiences on a spectacular adventure with some of the rarest and most fascinating animals on the planet."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.