"Monk Comes Down the Mountain," the Kung Fu debut of Chinese director Chen Kaige, will be hitting mainland cinemas on July 3. More than 200 cinemas are already set to release the Chinese movie on IMAX 3-D. 

On June 18, the veteran filmmaker also released an English-dubbed trailer of the action film in order to attract international audiences.

Like Us on Facebook

Chen Kaige has been one of China's most influential directors. His popularity started in 1985 with the drama "Yellow Earth."

He also became a popular figure in the Western film scene in the 1990s following the movie "Farewell My Concubine," which won the Golden Palm Award at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. A year later, the film also won the Best Foreign Film Award at the Golden Globes.

Producers of Chen's latest film "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" said the film is the first Chinese movie with its countdown prologue created by Canada-based IMAX Corp. 

To date, only "Godzilla" and "Fast and Furious 7" in Hollywood have been made with such prologues, according to China Daily.

The film is the second production of Columbia Pictures set in mainland China after director Jiang Wen's "Gone With the Bullets'" co-production, reported kungfumagazine.com.

"Chen Kaige is internationally renowned for his stunning visuals and epic storytelling. For the Monk, he has brought together a first-class team both in front of and behind the camera and we have no doubt that the results will be thrilling," said Dede Nickerson, head of Production and Strategic Development of Sony Pictures China.

Sony Pictures co-produced the film.

"Monk Comes Down the Mountain" is reported to be Chen's first martial arts film in his 30 years in filmmaking.

The film's genre called wuxia is considered one of the genres in Chinese films to have gained the attention of Western audiences. However, wuxia films have been declining in recent years.

Featuring a host of remarkable Kung Fu stunts, Chen's "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" is an attempt to bring back the genre. It was inspired by Xu Haofeng's best-selling wuxia novel of the same name.

"Taoism originated from China and has shaped Chinese culture," said Chen, who added that he was led to make the film adaptation of the novel due to the novel's rare approach to Taoism.

The movie is set in between 1912 and 1949, a turbulent year for the Republic of China. It features the adventures of a young Taoist monk forced to retreat from his temple to escape famine, not expecting to find despair in the real world.

The film reportedly took around 213 shooting days, with a crew of 200 people. One of the shooting locations included Hebei province, where the set mimicked that of China's buildings in the 1930s.

A big-budget film, "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" will delight fans with A-list stars such as Aaron Kwok from Hong Kong, actor Chang Cheng and supermodel-turned actress Lin Chi-ling of Taiwan, and Wang Xueqi, winner of Best Actor at the Asian Film Awards.

Tagschen kaige kung fu movie, chen kaige, chen kaige kung fu debut, monk comes down the mountain, Aaron Kwok, Chang Chen, Lin Chi Ling, Wang Baoqiang, Fan Wei, wuxia, the monk