A poster of the film the Battle at Lake Changjin. Photo: CFP

War epic the Battle at Lake Changjin, the highest-grossing film worldwide in 2021, is scheduled to be released in Hong Kong and Macao on Thursday, the film's production team announced on Saturday. 

The team also revealed that the blockbuster will premiere in North America, Europe, Australia and several other Asian countries including Singapore and Malaysia. No release date was given. 

As of Sunday afternoon, the film had grossed 5.58 billion yuan ($872 million), according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan. 

Cherry - a Hong Kong resident and a vlogger with more than 1.71 million followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok - told the Global Times on Sunday that she will take her family to watch the film, adding that she has high expectations for the film since two well-known directors from Hong Kong, Dante Lam and Tsui Hark, co-directed the film.

Jacky Ko, a 41-year-old Hong Kong key opinion leader (KOL), told the Global Times on Sunday that he has been looking forward to the film for a long time, and will organize an outing for KOLs and some young volunteers to watch the movie.

"I will recommend that Hong Kong residents see the film, especially young people in Hong Kong. They will understand the significance of safeguarding national sovereignty and integrity and national dignity. It is not easy to have today's peaceful life, and we should cherish it," he said. 

He also pointed out that compared with fictional Hollywood superhero stories, Chinese films about heroism usually present real historical events or are adapted from real stories that happened in China, which is more convincing and can rouse empathy among the Chinese audience. 

With China the largest film market in the world, three Chinese films have successfully squeezed into the top 10 highest-grossing films worldwide in 2021 - The Battle at Lake Changjin, tear-jerker comedy Hi, Mom and comedy-mystery buddy film Detective Chinatown 3. 

"I asserted that the Chinese film market would surpass the market in the US many years ago, and now I believe more Chinese films will achieve a better box-office result than Hollywood in the future," said Ko.