AS one of the most anticipated summer blockbusters, “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” — the long-awaited first installment of a hugely budgeted trilogy — is scheduled to open in domestic theaters today.

The trilogy is loosely adapted from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel “The Investiture of the Gods,” an epic that blends history and mythology to retell the story — set approximately 3,000 years ago — of how Ji Fa, a righteous lord, leads a rebellious army to overthrow King Zhou, a notorious tyrant in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.), indulging in debauchery and indiscriminate killing.

The project was initiated a decade ago and it took five years to develop the script. The production involved a total of 8,000 people and cost a staggering 3 billion yuan (US$417.3 million).

With Inner Mongolian director Wuershan at the helm, the movie stars Chinese-American singer-actor Kris Phillip as King Zhou, and features young actor Yu Shi in the role of Ji, the rebellious lord.

The movie’s premiere was held at China National Film Museum, and some of the trilogy’s costumes and props were on display, including King Zhou’s lavish throne and the extravagant dress of his wife, Queen Jiang.

Last week, a seminar to discuss the artistic characteristics and Chinese aesthetics of the movie was held in the Beijing office of China Film Association, in attendance by around 20 industry insiders, critics and researchers.

Yan Shaofei, secretary-general of the China Film Association, commented that “The Investiture of the Gods” is akin to the “mother body” of Chinese mythology, as it contains descriptions of many mythological figures that have had a profound impact on future generations, including Ne Zha and Yang Jian.

“Director Wuershan has done an impressive job re-creating the spectacular scenes depicted in this ancient novel, featuring some of those well-known mythological characters,” says Yu.

China’s summer movie season is set to sizzle with more releases, such as U.S. movies “Barbie” and “Meg 2: The Trench” and Chinese drama “The Breaking Ice.”

As of July 16, domestic box-office revenue for the summer movie season, which runs from June 1 to Aug. 31, has reached nearly 8.79 billion yuan. According to box office tracker Dengta Data, this year’s box-office earnings from June 1 to July 16, have set a new record compared to the earnings during the same period.

Currently, the top two spots on China’s summer box-office chart are held by the Chinese suspense crime film “Lost in the Stars” and the drama film “Never Say Never,” with respective earnings of 3.36 billion yuan and 1.50 billion yuan. Industry observers are expecting the summer box office to hit the 15-billion-yuan threshold.

(China Daily, Xinhua)