Following a successful opening day on July 16, the epic fantasy animation "Monster Hunt" has reached a new milestone in the Chinese film industry. In just eight days from its theatrical release, the 3D adventure movie became the fastest domestic film to exceed the 1-billion yuan record.

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At 1.05 billion yuan ($169 million), Monster Hunt now stands to be China's second top-grossing movie of all time, next only to the 2013 film "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" at an undefeated $197 million. In 2012, misadventure comedy "Lost in Thailand" became the first locally produced movie to surpass the 1-billion yuan mark within 21 days.

Directed by "Shrek" creator Raman Hui, Monter Hunt tells the story of Wuba, a radish-looking creature with four arms. Destined to be the monster king, Wuba will help humans and monsters co-exist peacefully.

Monster Hunt is Hui's first live-action feature film 10 years since he created Shrek. One article revealed that fantasy film was based on a supernatural classic entitled "Strange Tales of Liaozhai" and amounted to $40 million in production. Dealing with a live action was a whole new process for Hui, who started filming in 2009. He admitted that he initially caused confusion for his actors by directing them "by frames," as how he was used to with his team of animators.

Another feather in the cap of Hui's movie is the record of garnering the biggest revenue on opening day with more than 170 million yuan. Subsequently, its opening week raked in an estimated 670 million yuan in revenue, also the biggest in the industry. Meanwhile, in its preview week that ran for three days, Monster Hunt earned an estimated 5.78 million yuan.

Coming in second but still with a long way to go is superhero comedy "Pancake Man" with $114 million yuan within seven days of release. Highly revered among netizens, "Monkey King: Hero is Back" is at third place with $94 million 14 days from its opening date.

Monster Hunt stars Eric Tsang, Bia Baihe, Wallace Chung, and Sandra Ng, and distributed in the mainland by Edko Films and Union Films.

TagsMonster Hunt, Raman Hui, Shrek creator, Shrek, Pancake Man, Monkey King, Eric Tsang, Bia Baihe, wallace chung, sandra ng