Monsters vs humans in animated film made for China

The 3-D movie Monster Hunt is inspired by Chinese mythology and features computer-animated monsters. Photo provided to China Daily

Kong is known for a number of blockbusters, including Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Hero (2002). The latter is regarded as a landmark film that ended the slump in the mainland market.

Owing to the success of Kong's previous projects, many expect Monster Hunt to do well in the box office.

Inspired by ancient China's mythological collections Shan Hai Jing (Classics of the Mountains and Seas) and Liao Zhai (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio), the script for Monster Hunt took five years to complete, and the filming took another three years.

Set in a fictional world, where humans and monsters have been at war for generations, the tale starts with the birth of a monster, who comes out of a human male womb.

Woba, a four-armed, white, carrot-like creature, is the baby monster and the movie's central character, who takes viewers through an adventurous journey, trying to avoid being hunted down while uniting the two races.

"The actors were all very confused, which made them unnatural while performing," Hui says of the early days of the shoot.

Eventually, he figured out a solution by acting out some computer-animated roles himself.