Surprise makes big-screen debut this week

Actor Jia Nailiang (center). [Photo provided to China Daily]

Surprise, the feature comedy based on the hit online miniseries with the same title, will be released on Dec 18.

The miniseries, which premiered in 2013 on China's pop video-streaming site Youku, has won huge popularity with more than 2 billion clicks. Most of the series interweaves fictional tales with classic novels and ancient legends.

The movie Surprise centers on a new story of a monster loser who re-examines his destiny by encountering with Monk Xuanzang and his four powerful prentices.

"Our investigation find that three episodes based on Journey to the West are the most welcomed among the 37 episodes of three seasons," says Yi Zhenxing, the director of the movie and series, on a recent Beijing event.

"So we decided to select the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel to be the main theme for the feature movie," says Yi, more familiar to Chinese audiences by his pseudonym, "Joy Show".

The crew of the upcoming Surprise has recently been touring with a promotional road show in 500 cinemas of 100 cities.

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