The US$26 million film would feature a scene in which 40,000 people were killed, Xinhua said.
China says invading Japanese troops slaughtered 300,000 men, women and children in Nanjing, then known as Nanking. An Allied tribunal after World War II put the death toll at about 142,000.
Post-war ties between China and Japan have been overshadowed by what Beijing says has been Tokyo's refusal to admit to atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in the country between 1931 and 1945.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under fire for denying government involvement in forcing women to serve as wartime sex slaves, said on Monday he was "apologizing here and now as the prime minister."
In January, China condemned plans by a Japanese group backed by ultra-nationalist figures to make The Truth about Nanjing, a documentary denying Japanese atrocities.
On a lighter note, the trio of young British actors who have brought Harry Potter to the screen — Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson — are remaining loyal to Harry Potter, the US production firm Warner Brothers Pictures said Monday.
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