This week in Aussie cinemas we have a Chinese blockbuster: The Monkey King, a spectacular-looking adaptation of the origin story for everyone’s favourite literary primate, Sun Wukong. The character will be familiar to everyone who grew up watching the Japanese TV series Monkey! on Australian TV, or has encountered the source material (Journey To The West, one of China’s big four classical masterpieces) in any of its hundreds of different adaptations and transformations.
This film tells the story of how the Monkey King rebelled against the Jade Emperor of Heaven, and stars some big names: An almost unrecognisable Donnie Yen in the lead, Chow Yun-Fat at the Jade Emperor, and Aaron Kwok as the Bull Demon King. It’s directed by HK director Soi Cheang (Motorway, Accident, Dog Bite Dog) and had a budget of 400M yuan (about US$60M). Hollywood expertise was brought on to help with the visual effects and 3D work, which is on display in the trailer in spades.
The Monkey King 3D opens on 30 January around the country, in Mandarin with English subtitles. See distributor Magnum Films’ website for more information!
Here’s a trailer: