War epic pays homage to martyrs

Director Guo Fan, known for the sci-fi blockbuster The Wandering Earth, reveals that a big-scale special-effect team consisting of up to 2,600 members was recruited to work on the visual feast, with most scenes "pre-shot" on computers and the actors rehearsed inside hotels to ensure the movie wrapped on schedule, during a premiere in Beijing on Oct 22.

With the major shooting in Dandong, Northeast China's Liaoning province, the producers recalled that coping with changing climates in an intense schedule was one of the biggest challenges as nearly all scenes took place in the wild.

Zhang Yi, alongside actor Wu Jing as the two protagonists, revealed that the actors slept a few hours every day but some insisted on keeping training schedule in order to best portray Chinese soldiers.

The film is projected by most industry insiders as the biggest blockbuster to accelerate Chinese film industry's recover between late October and November, a period which is usually lackluster in drawing big-budget movies in past years.

As of 3 pm on Oct 23, the movie – which is released in multiple formats including giant IMAX screens – had grossed 50 million yuan ($7.48 million), according to the box office live tracker Beacon.