Actors in the romance Triumph in the Skies.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Zhong Kui, inspired by the tale of a Chinese god, for instance, made use of New Zealand director Jack Peterson's special-effects company Weta Workshop. Wolf Totem hired well-known Canadian animal trainer Andrew Simpson to tame a pack of Mongolian wolves for three years.

Dragon Blade, which is about a fictional war between ancient China and Rome set in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), also stars American actor John Cusack, who is known to Chinese fans for his role in Hollywood hit 2012, and Adrian Brody, the Oscar-winning American actor.

Cusack and Brody were in Beijing earlier this month to promote Dragon Blade.

"I have long loved Chinese cinema, especially the martial arts films. Before I started to be an actor at a very young age, my father used to take me to Chinatown in New York City to watch kung fu movies," Brody, 41, said at a media event.

For Chinese movie fans who have grown up watching Hollywood, it may also be a dream come true that respected Western actors are now starting to act in Chinese-language movies.