LOS ANGELES, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Maria Bello ("ER," "Payback," "Coyote Ugly," "Duets") will star in "CHINA: THE PANDA ADVENTURE," the new IMAX(R) film that is shooting in Mainland China. Set in the 1930s, the film is based on the true story of Ruth Harkness, a fiercely independent woman who travels to the mysterious forests of China to follow in her late husband's footsteps and achieve his dream of bringing the first live giant panda to America.

"CHINA: THE PANDA ADVENTURE" encompasses three months of production in China including locations such as the city of Shanghai, the Wolong Panda Preserve, the areas of Huang Long Xi, Jiuzhaigou, and along the Yangtze River. To be released in IMAX theatres worldwide beginning in Summer 2001, the film will combine spectacular images of a foreign and exotic land with breathtaking scenes of giant pandas in this incredible true story of hope, courage and triumph of the human spirit.

"It has been an especially challenging shoot working on boats in the Yangtze and its tributaries, in the rugged terrain of the Min Valley and Jiuzhaigou Park, and in and around Shanghai. We've had an enormous amount of co-operation from Chinese officials and from our own Chinese crew. It's not easy making a film of this scale on foreign soil," said Andrew Gellis, Imax's Senior Vice President, Film. "The filmmakers have had to work around unpredictable pandas at the Wolong Panda Preserve, organize 400 period-clothed extras, rickshaws, cable cars and period automobiles on the Nanking road re- creating Shanghai circa 1938. I believe the results of our efforts will be to produce a truly ground-breaking live action film for the format."

Best known for her leading role on "ER" as the passionate and headstrong pediatrician Dr. Anna Del Amico, Bello is emerging as one of Hollywood's up and coming film stars. She co-starred in "Permanent Midnight" with Ben Stiller and Elizabeth Hurley, and with Mel Gibson in Paramount's "Payback." Bello made her television debut as a series regular opposite Scott Bakula in the spy-adventure series, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." She will next appear in Jerry Bruckheimer's "Coyote Ugly," which is set for release in August and in "Duets" which co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow.

Directed by noted documentary and feature filmmaker Robert Young ("Dominick and Eugene," "Ballad of Georgio Cortez") and produced by Antoine Compin and Charis Horton ("T-REX: Back to the Cretaceous," Cirque du Soleil(TM)/ The Journey of Man) "CHINA: THE PANDA ADVENTURE" was adapted for the screen by Jeanne Rosenberg ("The Black Stallion") from the autobiography by Ruth Harkness. John Wilcox is the executive producer of the film that is endorsed by World Wildlife Fund and the World-Famous San Diego Zoo.

World Wildlife Fund, known worldwide by its panda logo, leads international efforts to protect the diversity of life on Earth. Now in its fourth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe to leave our children a living planet.

The not-for-profit Zoological Society of San Diego, dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and their habitats, engages in conservation and research work around the globe. The Zoological Society manages the 100- acre World-Famous San Diego Zoo, the 1,800-acre San Diego Wild Animal Park (more than half of which has been set aside as protected native species habitat) and the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES), and is working to establish field stations in five key ecological areas worldwide. SOURCE Imax Corporation

CONTACT: Victoria Dinnick of Imax Corporation, Toronto, 905-403-6366; or Al Newman of Newman & Company, Los Angeles, 310-777-5252, for Imax /