Monkey Man
According to statistics from the state-backed China Film News blog, just two weeks after its release, the Stephen Chow directed and produced Journey to the West: Conquering Demons (Chow's third film interpretation of the 16th-century classic Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en) broke all manner of Chinese box office records by surpassing an unprecedented 1 billion yuan ($160 million).
Official figures on Sina Weibo state that within the first 15 days of its February 10 release, the film had been played 435,620 times throughout the nation and seen by an estimated 24.8 million.
Less than two months after previous local box office champion Lost in Thailand became the first Chinese production to take in more than 1 billion yuan, the enduring story of a young monk traveling west to India at the request of Buddha seems to still strum an emotional chord within the local consciousness.
With Chow - the star and man at the helm of some of China's most successfully exported comedy capers (Shaolin Soccer in 2001 and Kung Fu Hustle in 2004) - reportedly signing on for a 25 percent stake in a 173-acre Journey to the West theme park in Wuzhen (just outside Shanghai) as well as the impending release of The Monkey King starring Donnie Yen this July (yet another re-interpretation of the classic novel), it seems everyone has gone bananas for the Monkey King. Not to mention that one of Spain's finest directors, Guillermo Del Torro, is purported to be working on a Hollywood adaptation of Wu Cheng'en's novel.
"It's a story about austerities. About how human beings achieve perfection through austerity. It's a book full of wisdom," says Li An'gang, professor of Chinese classical literature at Yuncheng University, Shanxi Province. "The monkey character represents our minds, which can transform 72 times, travel 9,000 kilometers and change size in the blink of an eye."
If anyone should know about how to relate the appeal of the main protagonist - ostensibly a talking primate - to modern world dwellers, it's professor Li. He's been lecturing on the book for more than 30 years. Li states that the appeal of Monkey for Chinese people is simple: "It's a story about how to enlighten your mind. So everyone, not only Chinese, can find something for themselves within. No matter where they are from, those who know growth will come to understand this book."
However, despite the astronomical takings at the box office for Conquering Demons, not everyone found peace and wisdom in Chow's Monty Python-esque and somewhat trippy-slacker re-imagining of the tale.
"I would never recommend this movie to my friends," says University of Science and Technology Beijing graduate student Heaven Wang, 25. "I probably will never understand the success of this movie. It's haphazard and lacks consistency. I didn't get the humor and it was a bit too scary for children and those with heart conditions," she said. Wang is not the only person Metro Beijing interviewed who thought little of Chow's interpretation. But Li didn't have too many expectations for Chow's version and all its special effects.
"It's quite clear from the title that this was going to be a spoof of monkey movies from the past," says Li. "Clearly, people of this generation like these kinds of movies and the box office figures show that." Li calls Chow's efforts "spirited," but hopes for a more serious film adaptation in the future.
"I couldn't care less if there is an upcoming movie starring Donnie Yen," Wang says. "The story has been exhausted completely. I don't know how it will do at the box office, but I know I will never go to see that movie."