The most anticipated blockbuster of next year's Spring Festival, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 2," a collaboration between two legendary Hong Kong filmmakers Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark, has set a release date for China's lunar New Year.
A promotional poster was released on Sunday to indicate the film will debut in Chinese theaters on the Spring Festival which falls on Jan. 28, 2017, the first day of China's profitable film season of the year.
This is the first major collaboration between the "King of Comedy" actor-turned-director Chow and wuxia film wizard Tsui. They had never worked together until Tsui Hark finally appeared in Chow's "The Mermaid" with a cameo role during Spring Festival 2016.
Chow wrote and executive produced the sequel of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," with Tsui directing. The film, based on China's ancient fantasy novel "Journey to the West," stars Kris Wu, Lin Gengxin, Yao Chen, Lin Yun, Bao Bei'er, Da Peng, Wang Likun, Wang Duo, Zhang Mei'er and basketball player-turned-actor Mengke Bateer.
Several behind-the-scene photos showing Chow and Tsui working together were also released yesterday, indicating Chow's deep involvement in the production.
The first installment of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," was released in 2013, directed by Chow and starring Shu Qi, Huang Bo and Wen Zhang. The movie grossed 1.244 billion yuan (US$203.5 million) on the Chinese mainland alone and ranks as one of the highest grossing Chinese films ever. Chow's "The Mermaid" released in 2016 then climbed even higher, grossing 3.39 billion yuan (US$517.3 million) to become the highest grossing Chinese film ever.
Tsui Hark also had several top grossing and critically applauded films in recent years such as "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame," "The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate," "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" and "The Taking of Tiger Mountain."