Jackie Chan will begin principal photography on Armour of God IV: Ultimatum in Kazakhstan this July, marking the martial-arts star’s first production in the Central Asian region.
The production is being led by director Robert Kun and produced by Salem Entertainment with Esmond Ren and Igor Tsay attached; filming will take place across Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and the film is backed by Alem Fund, an Astana International Financial Centre-registered fund created to raise the international profile of Kazakhstan-linked film and media projects.
The scale is meant to be global: the film is targeting a worldwide release in the second quarter of 2027, with a worldwide rollout being eyed between April and June 2027, and the plot sends Chan’s recurring adventurer, the Asian Hawk, on a globe-spanning hunt for an ancient artifact known as the Tumar, which carries a reward of more than $20 million.
Those numbers matter for the local industry: Armour of God IV: Ultimatum is the first title to go into production from Alem Fund’s current portfolio of six projects, and Igor Tsay framed the announcement as a turning point, saying, "Having worked on productions around the world, I can say that this is an absolutely historic moment for Central Asian filmmaking — to host a legendary franchise starring Jackie Chan" and adding, "For us, it is both a great honor and a great responsibility toward the development of the region’s creative industry."
Chan, who first launched the franchise by directing and starring in Armour of God in 1986, said plainly of the Kazakhstan tie-up: "This is my first project with Kazakh partners, but it will not be the last." He added, "We will be announcing much more soon," and that, "I have never filmed there before, and it opens up many new visual and creative ideas that we will be able to bring to audiences."
Context stretches back through the franchise: the series introduced the Asian Hawk in 1986, returned with Armour of God II: Operation Condor in 1991 and later with Chinese Zodiac in 2012, both entries in which Chan starred and, in the early films, also directed; Kun arrives with action credits on more than 40 films, including Day Watch, Wanted and Major Grom, to take the helm this time.
The friction in the announcement is immediate and instructive. Chan has a long history of directing entries in his action series, but 3DVF reports he will star but not direct Armour of God IV: Ultimatum; instead Robert Kun will direct. At the same time the film is pitching a global release window in mid-2027 while distribution details — notably for the U.S. — remain to be announced, underlining how international finance and local hosting are moving faster than final distribution deals.
That tension — between a franchise founder stepping back from the director’s chair and a regional fund pushing a major international title into production — is also the story’s engine. Alem Fund exists to back Kazakhstan-linked projects and to raise their profile; by putting the first of six projects into production with a legendary international star and a multimillion-dollar MacGuffin at its center, the fund is buying an accelerated debut for the region’s film ambitions.
This is not a soft opening. With principal photography starting in July, a global rollout targeted for April–June 2027, and Chan himself promising more work with Kazakh partners, Armour of God IV: Ultimatum is deliberately positioned as the first of a series of moves to make Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan visible on the international production map — and that, based on the financing and Chan’s own words, is exactly what will follow.
