Forget Lord of the Rings! With its $372 million gross, this highly ambitious fantasy film is a must-see at the cinema.

After Godzilla Minus One, another phenomenon from Asia arrives in France on July 10th: The Creation of Gods! The film is an adaptation of the novel Investiture of the GodsBattle of the Dynasties published in the 17th century.

This is one of the greatest legends of the Middle Kingdom. A sort of Chinese Lord of the Rings, Creation of the Gods is the first episode of a trilogy. It is subtitled Kingdom of Storms.

The story introduces us to Prince Yin Shu. The latter ascends the throne of the Shang kingdom in blood with the help of his demonic mistress. Taoist sage Jiang Zia, who came from the sacred Kunlun Mountain, and Ji Fa, a diplomatic hostage raised by Yin Shu, join forces to fight the tyrant.

Ambitious adaptation

Note that manga fans already know this story. Indeed, Hoshin, Investiture of the Gods by Fujisaki Ryu was a huge success with 22 million copies sold.

Directed by Wuershan, this ambitious adaptation benefited from a substantial budget estimated at over €100 million. The work has earned 372 at the worldwide box office (as of February 2024). It gathered 60.67 million viewers in China!

Thanks to the popularity of the cinemas, the Chinese phenomenon Wuershan’s Creation of Gods, which opened for 2 days in France last February, this time enjoys a real national release in a proper way. 5 months ago, the artwork drew 15,000 people during the two days of its release event.

Lord of the Rings Chinese?

If this mural, which combines an adventure story and mythology, is often compared to JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, it is based on a very real historical episode: the fall of the Shang Dynasty in favor of the Zhou in 20 BC. In the middle of the XI century.

Like the saga of Peter Jackson, Wuerschan is preparing a grand trilogy. “Creation of the Gods inaugurates an unprecedented trilogy of mythological epics in Chinese-language cinema. This work aspires to form a contemporary vision of Chinese mythology in the service of cutting-edge special effects in the service of a story-oriented relationship. The Father of Sons”The director emphasizes.

“It conveys universal values ​​while faithfully portraying Chinese ethics and aesthetics. The film’s ambition is to make this timeless story known through avant-garde cinematic means, so that it becomes a spiritual legacy for future generations.”Wuershan clarifies.

A great opportunity

The production did not spare resources to put up such a mural. Special environments, bloody and epic battle scenes, Dantesque battles, handmade costumes, major political issues…

The story of the creation of the gods is rich and will delight all fans of heroic fantasy and grand historical tales. “Between Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings”Télérama summarizes.

Wuerschan and his teams worked for 9 years to develop this trilogy. It took 438 days of shooting over 18 months to successfully complete the footage of the trilogy. The director led a team of 8,000 people for preparation and filming, followed by over 1,500 people dedicated to post-production and special effects!

Note that a 30,000 m2 studio was built specifically for the film. The actors were selected after more than 15,000 auditions, followed by 6 months of training, sometimes more than 60 hours a week. And finally, you should know that 74% of the movie contains special effects!

The first installment of Creation of the Gods, titled Kingdom of Storms, will be released in theaters on July 10. Moreover, Creation of the Gods will be a trilogy. Just like Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, 3 episodes were filmed in 18 consecutive months! So far, the release date of the sequel is not known.