A rising private entertainment company has joined up with the nation's largest State-owned film group to create a Chinese version of Ocean's 11.

Juli Entertainment Co Ltd, based in Baoding, Hebei province, and China Film Group Corporation, will co-produce at least five films annually from this year, Yang Zi, chairman of Juli Entertainment, said at a press conference in Beijing on March 30.

"This is the first time a private entertainment company is establishing such a formal cooperative relationship with China Film Group," he says.

One of the films being planned is inspired by Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11, says Yang. While the story will be different from the original film, it also revolves around 11 men, who are likely to be a mix of Chinese and Hollywood actors.

Another work on the agenda is an adaptation of the works of Gu Long (1938-1985), a Taiwan martial arts novelist widely acclaimed by readers in Chinese-speaking regions.

At the press conference, Juli Entertainment signed a contract with the Managing Committee of Gu Long's Books to acquire the rights to the late writer's novels.

Han Sanping, chairman of China Film Group Corporation, hailed the move.

"China's film industry is seeing rapid growth. We need more passionate entrepreneurs such as Yang to make domestic films more competitive against foreign productions," he says.

The two companies will also work together to find and support talented young directors, Yang says.

Juli Entertainment, a subsidiary of manufacturing giant Juli Group, was founded two years ago. Its latest project, The Legend of White Snake, a kungfu fantasy starring Jet Li, will premiere at the end of this year. The company's ambitious blueprint for this year includes 11 films and TV dramas, including at least five films with China Film Group.

Yang tells China Daily that Juli Entertainment will also work with a large shopping center chain to launch its own theaters in all of the latter's new malls, but declined to reveal the identity of this partner.