Famous Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and stunt performer Jackie Chan arrived in Kazakhstan to start filming the fourth Armour of God movie.
He will return as Asian Hawk, a treasure hunter, who springs back into action in the quest to find an ancient artifact known as Tumar worth more than €20 million.
On Saturday, the crew officially started filming by breaking a ceremonial dish.
“Many years of preparation, finally, we start the movie. We have a long way to go. Only the first shot, we have a thousand shots,” Jackie Chan said.
Filming will take place in Almaty city, Almaty and Mangystau regions from July to October 2026, while some scenes will be shot in Hong Kong. The Bozzhyra Grand Canyon located in Mangystau region will be the primary filming location.
Why Kazakhstan?
The film is a Kazakhstan-China collaboration, produced by the Kazakh company Sәlem Entertainment and the Hong Kong company Billion Target.
Salem Entertainment Executive Producer Igor Tsay told Euronews that Central Asia is a completely new filming location for Jackie Chan, which is why he chose it as the ground for his next film.
“Kazakhstan has great potential for filming large-scale, A+ class movies with world-famous stars, and Jackie Chan was the first to pay attention to our region,” Tsay said.
He explained that Chan was interested in unique natural landscapes, diversity of locations and special atmosphere of the country.
“All we had to do was seamlessly weave Kazakhstani locations into the script so that they became not just a beautiful backdrop, but an important part of the film’s on-screen world,” the producer added.
Tsay also noted that Chinese and Kazakh teams are working together well, with each side eager and keen to swop share experiences.
“As a veteran of the film industry, Jackie exemplifies the key qualities of professionalism, discipline, determination and passion, both on screen and on set,” he said.
Jackie Chan is not directing
Armour of God: Ultimatum will be the first in the franchise to be directed not by Chan, but by Kazakh director Robert Kun.
Kun, whose career also started with stunt performances, has worked for various projects for Disney, Paramount, Universal, and 20th Century Fox.
“Robert is the perfect bridge between ideas and their implementation. He has the most extensive directing experience in our region working on action projects of this scale, which is probably why he was chosen,” Tsay explained.
He noted that Chan oversees all creative processes and remains the primary bearer of the franchise’s spirit and values. Every decision in the production process undergoes a rigorous approval process.
Stunts in the movie will be handled both by Jackie Chan’s team and Kazakhstani action studio Kun-Do. Robert Kun earlier said that Chan had the idea to combine several styles in staging the larger-scale fight scenes.
“Jackie always wants to do something he’s never done before in his life, and, as you understand, over more than half a century of his career, he’s performed so many stunts that there’s not much room for imagination, but our team is capable of surprising not only the franchise’s main star, but also future audience,” said Igor Tsay.
Armour of God: Ultimatum is scheduled to premiere in February 2027.