Trivia / The Great Wall

• Billing Displacement: Jing Tian (who plays Lin) is billed third after Pedro Pascal (Tovar) despite having a much more important role in the story, and more screentime.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $150 million. Box office, $45,157,105 (domestic), $331,957,105 (worldwide). It wasn't much of a flop in China but it's not considered a success either. Because of the mediocre box office returns, there's a lot of uncertainty whether there still can be an international collaboration between Hollywood and other foreign studios in the future (further hammered by rejection of American blockbusters in China post-COVID-19 outbreak). Matt Damon's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, Jimmy Kimmel, pointed this out during his hosting stint at the Oscars 2017.
  Jimmy Kimmel: [Matt Damon] handed an Oscar-caliber role over to his friend and made a Chinese ponytail movie instead....And that movie, The Great Wall, went on to lose $80 million. Smooth move, dumbass.
• Surprisingly-Similar Stories: Frequently to The Tomorrow War, due to their similar plotlines and creatures.
• Creator Killer: Along with Pacific Rim: Uprising, this film torpedoed Legendary's 2014 distribution deal with Universal, resulting in Legendary returning to Warner Bros. for most films from 2019 to 2022.
• International Coproduction: This movie is co-produced between China (the state-owned China Film Group and Hong-Kong based Le Vision Pictures) and the US (Legendary Pictures and Atlas Entertainment).
• Old Shame: For Matt Damon, who admitted that he began to regret making it when he saw Zhang Yimou cave to the Executive Meddling from Legendary on top of his daughter mocking it.
• Promoted Fanboy: Though his role is specifically written for him and the timing of him being cast as Tovar was after his last episode of Game of Thrones, Pedro Pascal immediately took the role because he's a big fan of Zhang Yimou.
• Star-Making Role: Though she's already famous in China, The Great Wall is Jing Tian's international debut which led her appearing in Kong: Skull Island and Pacific Rim: Uprising.
• What Could Have Been: Early concept art of the Tao Tei are decidedly more horrific looking. The design was changed, however, partly due to the filmmakers trying to limit it to a PG-13 rating.

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