LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Three-time Oscar award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee's action film "Gemini Man" debuted with 7.5 million U.S. dollars in North America on Friday, heading to a projected North American opening of 20 million dollars this weekend.

Directed by Lee and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, the VFX-heavy film starring Will Smith follows Henry Brogan, an aging government assassin, who is suddenly targeted and pursued by a mysterious young operative that seemingly can predict his every move.

Ang Lee won the Oscar award for best director twice, in 2013 for "Life of Pi" and in 2006 for "Brokeback Mountain." The wuxia (matial heroes) film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Lee won a best foreign language film Oscar in 2001.

"Gemini Man" is distributed by Paramount Pictures in North America. It was produced by Skydance, in association with China's Fosun Pictures. Fosun Pictures and Alibaba Pictures are the co-financiers of the film.

Skydance and Paramount Pictures announced in April in a statement that Fosun Pictures joined as a global partner on the film.

"We're very excited with the opportunity to work with Ang Lee. He is such a great director with a worldwide reputation and 'Gemini' is a one-of-a-kind character-driven action movie we've never seen before," said Li Haifeng, senior vice president and chief communications officer of Fosun International and chairman of Fosun Pictures, in the statement, adding that Fosun is thrilled to work with the energetic and innovative teams of Skydance and Paramount Pictures.

"We are very happy to partner with Fosun on Gemini Man," said Jesse Sisgold, Skydance media president and COO. "We believe the film will greatly benefit from Fosun's massive footprint in China, as well as its connection to audiences worldwide via its myriad of brands."

"As a company rooted in China, Fosun is dedicated to telling the story of China with internationalized language and promoting cross-cultural communication between China and other countries," Li told Xinhua in a recent Wechat interview.

"Gemini Man" is set to open in Chinese mainland theaters on Oct. 18.