Before "Monster Hunt," Xu Zheng's "Lost in Thailand" was the biggest earning homegrown film in China. (Photo : Wikipedia)
Xu Zheng, the director of "Lost in Thailand," celebrated the feat of the live-action animated film "Monster Hunt," whose record-breaking box-office performance propelled the project to the top spot in the list of biggest earning domestic movies in the country.
The title, which was previously held by Xu's "Lost in Thailand," was grabbed by the fantasy adventure movie when it grossed 1.3 billion yuan on July 26.
To date, "Monster Hunt" has already pulled in a cumulative total of 1.5 billion yuan, replacing even the critically acclaimed Hollywood masterpiece, "Avengers: Age of Ultron," as Chinese mainland's third-highest movie release.
When Chinese theaters had its new box-office champ, many have speculated that Xu may feel indeed "lost" for losing his film's glory. However, he and his team's reaction was the opposite.
Along with his marketing group, Xu released a poster of "Monster" together with the director's upcoming sequel, "Lost in Hong Kong," which was rather a surprising generous move.
"I heard it's a Hollywood tradition that an old box-office champion will celebrate the new winner by tailoring a poster featuring both of them. It deserves an Oriental copy," Xu noted.
"Amid the fast-booming market, it will be a normal phenomenon to see the records broken again and again. When the public gets used to that, they will not care so much about the box office, but pay attention back to the content," the seasoned director enthused.
Asked about the upcoming "Lost" sequel, Xu emphasized that it will be a "brand new" movie, with only the title as the linking factor to the previous installment.
The first of the series, "Lost on Journey" was released in 2010, while the second, "Lost in Thailand," hit the theaters in 2012.
The previous leads, actors Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang, will be replaced by rising actor Bao Bei'er, who will be taking a surprise starring role.
"Lost in Hong Kong" will focus on the issue of middle-age crisis. The film is slated to be released on Sept. 25.
