Screen Daily reports that Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Centurion) and Avatar virtual camera operator Anthony Arendt have joined the production team of China-US co-production Empires of the Deep.

The project, currently filming in Beijing, is the biggest 3D film in production in China. Budgeted at $100 million, the fantasy adventure is co-directed by Michael French (Heart of a Dragon) and Jonathan Lawrence (The Family Mancuso, Dream Parlor) from a script by Frank Randall and Jon Jiang.

Set in ancient Greece, Empires of the Deep "tells about a young man's adventure in the undersea mermaid kingdom in order to save his father, while encountering ferocious sea monsters and gets involved in large-scale battles in the seabed between mermaids, monsters and demons."

Kurylenko plays the Queen of the Mermaid Empire and stars opposite lead actor Steve Polites and Chinese actress Yanfei Shi.

The trade says adds that Arendt serves as stereography consultant and works on-site with Michael French and director of photography Rao Xiaobing on 3D stereography.

A release in the summer of 2011 is planned.