In fact, according to Twitchfilm:

It appears the design on this robot is based off the Jiang Shi, the long-robed, hopping Chinese vampires popularized in the 80's classic Mr. Vampire series.

That's even more obvious when you look at the concept art pictured at right. (For more concept art, check this out.) The movie hits theaters in China in August, and has been picked up for North American distribution. No word on when we'll see it in the West.

via Twitchfilm, thanks to Avery Guerra!

Lau, pictured here with stars Sun Li and Hu Jun (center), has directed a number of other science fiction and fantasy movies, most recently A Chinese Tall Story. At a press conference in China last week, he said that he was motivated to work on the as-yet-untitled kung fu robot movie after seeing Transformers and realizing there were no robot movies that were distinctly Asian. (I'd nominate Giant Robot, but maybe he meant Chinese movies.)

The movie will be epic, with elements of humor and romance as well as robot-on-robot action. It takes place in a future world where robots are at war with each other. Hu Jun plays a police officer who becomes a cyborg, and his head can apparently turn into some kind of helicopter - which sounds completely awesome. Sun Li plays a woman in love with a cyborg, which she described as very moving, but more difficult than your standard romance role.

Hottie Wu Jing plays an android gone bad, who has amazing martial arts skills and wields a giant blade. Lau promises that Jing's character will be unlike anything you've seen before: An android who thinks like a human, has Chinese kung fu skills, and eventually struggles with a crisis of conscience. Several of the robots can change form, like Transformers, and this will be key to the final, epic fight scene - which apparently makes reference to Bruce Lee.

OK, so we've got kung fu, Bruce Lee, cyborgs, androids who can transform their shapes, human-robot love, and fight scenes. All this movie needs is a giant monster and I can die the happiest geek in the world. The movie is slated for a summer 2009 release in Asia, and hopefully us poor sods over in the States and Europe will get to see it sometime next year too.

Jeff Lau's Kung Fu Cyborg Attraction [via Wu-Jing.org]

Apparently its been in the works for 10 years and it's titled simply, Robot. Lau has partnered with Le TV.com and has created a film company, and Robot will be their first production. The giant-robot film will

present a refreshing look at Chinese robots for people who are used to stereotypical Hollywood figures like Spiderman and Superman. He said the Chinese robot, in comparison, would feel closer and more human to audiences.

The film will begin shooting on November 19th in China.

[Crienglish via Twitch]