Stephen Chow is set to create a new film which marks the start of a collaboration with Columbia Pictures to produce a number of films.

Kitty Zhang is making her debut on his film A Hope. A film which has the strangest of stories, back in March we heard a little about it, the film is a fantasy comedy about a labourer and his son who have a strange encounter with their new pet.

That film is happening right now, but according to The Hollywood Reporter a new deal between Columbia and Stephen Chow means that they are going to produce a series of films with similar unusual plots and styles. The first is Jump, which will star Zhang as a cleaner in a local dance school who by night perfects her own unique hip-hop martial arts dancing style. She quickly gets noticed and soon becomes a media sensation which changes her life in many ways.

It does sound more mainstream than Chow has gone so far, and I am afraid that this might lose some of his genius filmmaking style that we saw take flight with the stunning Kung Fu Hustle (Filmstalker review). Or, we could see him take his style to Hollywood and retain his unique flair for filmmaking. We can but hope.