(Global Times) Boasting a 750 million yuan ($113.5 million) budget, Chinese fantasy production Asura will make its debut in the Chinese mainland on Friday, the film's producers announced on Monday.
The film is one of the most expensive mainland films in recent years.
The story follows the adventures of Ru Yi (Chinese actor Wu Lei), a young shepherd who one day learns he is the reincarnation of one of the heads of the three-headed king of the world known as Asura.
The Chinese studio worked closely with an A-class Hollywood production team that included costume designer Ngila Dickson, who worked on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Martin Mernandez, audio director for the Oscar-winning film The Revenant.
Aside from renowned Chinese actors such as Wu Lei, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Carina Lau, the ambitious Eastern epic also stars foreign performers such as Matthew Knowles and Bonetics, the 18-year-old body-twister from the 2015 season of Britain's Got Talent.
Many of the film's scenes were shot in the remote areas of Northwest China including the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Calling the film a "world-class visual feast," the film's producer Yang Zhenjian - also the producer of the popular Painted Skin franchise - said at the premiere ceremony that "Asura faced numerous technological challenges, such as portraying three heads on a single body."
Source: Global Times