Monster Hunt
Monster Hunt | |
---|---|
Chinese theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Raman Hui |
Produced by |
Bill Kong Alan Yuen Yee Chung-man Doris Tse |
Written by | Alan Yuen |
Starring | |
Music by | Leon Ko |
Cinematography | Anthony Pun |
Edited by | Ka-Fai Cheung |
Production company |
|
Distributed by |
China Film Group Corporation EDKO (Beijing) Distribution Co. Tianjin Lianrui Pictures Co. Union Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 118 minutes |
Country | |
Language | Mandarin |
Budget | US$56 million[nb 1] |
Box office | US$385.28 million[6][7] |
Monster Hunt (simplified Chinese: 捉妖记; traditional Chinese: 捉妖記; pinyin: Zhuō Yāo Jì) is a 2015 Chinese-Hong Kong 3D fantasy action comedy adventure film directed by Raman Hui and starring Bai Baihe and Jing Boran.[8] The film was released in China on 16 July 2015 in 3D[1][9] and in countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Korea. Upon release, it became a huge commercial success, breaking numerous box office records, including as the highest-grossing film in China,[10] before The Mermaid took the crown in 2016. It opened in North America on January 22, 2016 in 2D and 3D by FilmRise. A sequel, titled Monster Hunt 2, is scheduled for release in China in 2018.[11]
Plot
The film takes place in the distant past, where the Human race existed alongside the Monster race. They once shared the world in peace and harmony until the Humans drove the Monsters out from their home, for they sought total dominion over their lands. Recently, a civil war took place in the Monster Realm which resulted in the usurpation of the Monster King's throne from a treacherous minister, who later sought the Monster Queen and her unborn baby, and the Monster Queen fled to the Human Realm. The story begins with Song Tianyin (Jing Boran), an unnerved young village mayor who becomes pregnant with the Monster Queen's baby, and he encounters an aspiring Monster-hunter named Hua Xiaolan (Bai Baihe), and they both embarks on an adventure to protect the baby from villains of the Human and Monster worlds alike.
Cast
- Bai Baihe as Huo Xiaolan
- Jing Boran as Song Tianyin
- Jiang Wu as Luo Gang
- Elaine Jin
- Wallace Chung
- Eric Tsang
- Sandra Ng
- Tang Wei
- Yao Chen
- Yan Ni
- Bao Jianfeng
- Wang Yuexin
- Guo Xiaodong
- Li Jingjing
- Cindy Tian
- Zhang Yuexuan
Themes
The main theme in Monster Hunt, according to Hui is acceptance (similar to the Shrek series which Hui was involved in).[12] The message in the film is to understand and accept differences, to see the world through others' perspective and to foster more understanding between people and groups.[12]
Paraphernalia
In the scene where the two undercover Monsters, Zhu Gao (Eric Tsang) and Fei Ying (Sandra Ng), are at the Heavenly Restaurant, Fei Ying was greeted by a guest of said restaurant who had by her side a bodyguard holding a pug, the bodyguard being Monster-hunter Luo Gang (Jiang Wu), whom Zhu Gao and Fei Ying escaped capture from earlier. When Fei Ying and Zhu Gao hid away their faces in a nervous manner from Luo Gang, the lady guest was wondering, to the humor of the audience, why were they fearful of dogs if they're Humans. This would serve to imply that in this universe, there exists other supernatural/mythical races and creatures alongside the Monsters of the Monster Kingdom made for the movie; the Monsters, as portrayed in the movie, don't have any apparent aversions to particular animals, whereas varieties of demons and specters from classical Chinese myth are repelled by certain animal attributes, such as dog's blood.
Production
Development
Hui had long wanted to produce a movie in China. In an interview with the South China Morning Post he said that while overseeing sequences for the Gingerbread Man character in Shrek, he daydreamed about animating a character from a Hong Kong bakery, a Pineapple Bun Man.[13] The idea for the film began in 2005 when Hui—who was living in Hollywood at that time—approached producer Bill Kong on the possibility of making an animated movie in China. But Kong who had no experience with animated film turned the proposal down.[4] But about three years later in 2008, Kong, while visiting Hollywood, invited Hui out for drinks on Sunset Boulevard and asked him if he could make a live-action film with computer graphics for him. Hui, who hadn't done any live-action movies simply said, "Sure, I'll give it a try."[4] Kong introduced Hui to Hong Kong writer Alan Yuen to see what they could come up with.[14] They started looking for comic books or other intellectual property to adapt, but to no avail. Alan finished the script alone by the summer of 2009 taking vague inspiration from monsters mentioned in classical Chinese literature, but with an original story.[3][4]
The three took inspiration from an old Chinese book "Classic of Mountains and Seas" (Shan Hai Jing).[13] "It's a weird book from old China, a bit like Nat Geo [National Geographic] with descriptions of monsters living in the mountains. I kind of based the monsters on the descriptions in that book." Hui said.[14] Although Hui admits that there wasn't any particular film he drew inspiration from for the film, he stated that Monster Hunt is partly influenced by various DreamWorks animated movies, Hollywood movies such as Men in Black, Jurassic Park, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Lord of the Rings film series and Indiana Jones franchise, Hong Kong films like CJ7 and Drunken Master II, works of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron and visual references at once recalling ancient Chinese landscape painting, a 1970s breakfast cereal called Freakies, and the Oddball Art of Mark Ryden.[13][15][16] Kong took the first draft of the script to many friends in the film industry and all of the feedback was that it had potential but it would be too tough to make since the film would need visual effects because of its depiction of monsters.[14] Finally, Hui and Yuen went to a Beijing-based visual effects house, Base FX, and made a four-minute test film in 2012. That gave the team confidence to move ahead.[4]
Before Hui went to China, DreamWorks Animation sent him to India for 2 years.[17] Upon arriving in China in early 2013, he began assembling his crew, even as he continued to do consulting work for DreamWorks Animation. On the experience of working in a live-action film Hui said, "It was all new to me. I still recall I was so excited to see a costume being made. Before that, all the Shrek costumes were inside a computer. You can't touch it. For this movie, you could touch the fabric. It was like a toy shop, so exciting."[4] Hui and his team decided to make the monsters in the film look more friendly, humanlike and anthropomorphic—in contrary to typical monsters being vicious and scary—because they wanted them to carry emotions and get attached with the audience and the audience to liken the monsters.[12]
Filming
The first filming lasted about 85 days, including holidays (over 3 months).[17] Principal photography and production ended in December 2013 and by summer of 2014 the team was working on the special effects which was about 70% done. However, in August of the same year lead actor Kai Ko was arrested in Beijing for drug charges. Hui's initial reaction was that the incident and subsequent arrest of Ko would give him more time to work on the special effects even better.[4][15] Despite no officials directly ordering the film to be reshot, in fall of the same year, producers Doris Tse and Kong informed Hui of the decision to reshoot 70% of the film with a new actor in place since Chinese authorities were unwilling to show the film with a drug-using headliner anytime soon. Kong admitted that it was a normal business decision and that there wasn't much heroism involved.[4][13] However, such a massive undertaking would have to cost millions of dollars; they would have to refilm 70% and redo 25% of the special-effects work, call back the cast and crew, find a new leading man and rebuild sets. Hui admitted that he cried after hearing this due to the turmoil he endured.[4][13]
The second filming took almost five weeks (32 days),[17] finishing in late March 2015.[4] Jing Boran, who had starred in one of Kong's other recent films, was so eager to help Kong and Hui that he volunteered to take over Kai Ko's role without collecting a salary. More than 90% of the original crew returned for the reshoots, with many also working for free or at a reduced rate.[13] Every day, as he completed his shots, Hui would edit and send the footage to Base FX so that effects work could start immediately.[4] In addition to redoing all the scenes that had previously contained Ko, Hui and Kong added several new sequences and new roles and cameos for some additional well-known actors, such as Yao Chen to boost the movie's star quotient,[4][13]
Hui initially felt wary and skeptical if the film would find success at the box office. But following the success of Painted Skin: The Resurrection in 2012, it boosted enough confidence that the team moved ahead with production the following year.[13]
Post production
The film's visual effects was supervised by Jason H. Snell among others,[12][18] who previously worked on the visual effects for Pirates of the Caribbean film series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Elysium and Tomorrowland and others.[9][18] Base FX in Beijing was responsible for the film's visual effects.[4] According to Christopher Bremble, chief executive of Base FX, his initial reaction about refilming was fear and concern for Kong, who had made a big investment in the project.[4]
Music
Leon Ko composed the incidental music for Monster Hunt.[9]
Release
In China, Monster Hunt was originally planned to open in February 2015, during the Chinese New Year holiday.[4] However, following the arrest of Kai Ko, much of the film needed reshoots and a subsequent replacement. This led to film's delay release to 16 July 2015. The film was also released in countries like Malaysia and Singapore. As for a United States and Europe release, Hui and Kong were initially skeptical and dubious if the film could find a general audience there since the film was made to aim at Chinese speaking audience.[4][14] Hui said If they do release it there, they might need to think about making some adjustments.[14]
In September 2015, FilmRise acquired the rights to distribute the film in North America and will release the film in early 2016.[19][20] In the same month, Hui told Forbes about the possibility to dub the film in English since younger audiences would find it difficult to read the subtitles.[17] In December 2015, an English version of the trailer premiered. The film was released in the United States and Canada on January 22, 2016 in 2D and 3D in two versions; the original Mandarin version with English subtitles and an English dubbed version.[21][22] The film will remain in theaters for a traditional 90 days before becoming available on VOD.[23]
It ended its theatrical run in China on September 17, 2015,[24] playing in theaters for 59 days.[25]
The film opened in South Korea on November 12, 2015 and was released in 2D format only in contrary to its 3D release in China.[12]
Reception
Box office
Monster Hunt grossed US$382 million China[26] and including revenues from other countries it grossed a total of US$385 million worldwide.[6][27][28] According to Hui, the film needed to make US$125–141 million to break-even due to the film's increased budget and marketing for the reshoot.[3] After just two weeks of release Monster Hunt became the highest-grossing Chinese local movie of all time and in September overtook Furious 7 as the highest ever.[28][29] On Saturday, September 12—on its 58th day after release—it surpassed Furious 7 to become the highest-grossing film in China with 2.428 bn yuan (US$380.99 million) over Furious 7's 2.426B yuan (US$380.67 million). However, that's reflective of market fluctuations over the past few months: when Furious 7 ended its China run in mid-May, the conversion from the yuan came to US$391.2 million.[24] Monster Hunt is the first Chinese film to top the all-time Chinese box office charts in the 21 years since the market re-opened to foreign films.[24] It became the highest-grossing film in China for five months until surpassed by The Mermaid in February 2016,[30] and the highest-grossing IMAX film in China with $27 million until surpassed by Mojin: The Lost Legend in 2016.[31]
Before the film's official release on July 16, 2015 the film made US$930,000 in previews, and on its opening day, Thursday, July 16, 2015, it grossed US$27.5 million, setting a new opening-day and single-day record for a Chinese local film, breaking The Monkey King's record and a single day IMAX record of $2.7 million on Saturday.[32][33][34] Through its 4-day opening weekend, it earned a total of US$109 million (Rentrak reported a Friday-to-Sunday gross of $72 million and $99 million Thursday-to-Sunday) debuting atop the Chinese box office as well as the international box office. IMAX contributed $8.7 million of the opening gross from 216 screens, a new record for a Chinese produced film.[35][36] Earning US$46 in its second weekend — US$113 million in its full week from 19 million tickets sold — it topped both the Chinese as well as the international box office for two consecutive weekends making it a rare occurrence for a non-Hollywood film to top the international box office for more than one weekend.[37][38] After four consecutive weekends at No. 1 at the Chinese box office, it was finally replaced by Go Away Mr. Tumor in its fifth weekend, another film also starring Bai Baihe.[39]
It became the fastest Chinese movie to reach the RMB1.05 billion ($169 million) milestone, doing so in 8 days.[40] The success of the film has been attributed to several factors, such as positive reaction and word of mouth from audiences,[41] and also due to China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) implementation of the "domestic film protection period" or the "mid-summer domestic film protection period" or simply "blackout"; the unofficial session which lasts six to eight week when fewer foreign films are released in Chinese theaters in order to open up more screen time for Chinese movies.[42][43][44]
In South Korea, the film had a "modest" opening at No. 9 with $130,000.[45] In the United States and Canada, it opened with $21,074 from 45 theaters on an average of $468 per theater.[23] It went on to earn a paltry $32,766 after playing in theaters for only a week.[46]
The film has been viewed by over 65 million people worldwide.[12]
Controversy over box office performance
In September 2015, following suspicions raised on the internet by netizens, an article by the Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) speculated that it achieved the feat of becoming the highest-grossing film in China by artificially boosting its ticket sales.[47] This was followed by an article by the state media accusing the film of inflating its ticket sales.[25] According to the Financial Times, beginning in late August, netizens reported cases of theater scheduling screenings of the film in the middle of the night and multiple showings of the film on the same theater screen scheduled less than 30 minutes apart.[25] Furthermore in September, CCTV also reported that the company might have exploited the "public welfare screening" – a common practice for Chinese theaters and production companies to offer free tickets to young children, seniors, key workers, police, teachers and the disabled and in the same month it was found that public welfare screenings of the film at three different theaters were completely empty.[25][47] According to the SARFT, Monster Hunt grossed RMB2.43 billion during its summer theatrical run.[47] Edko, the film's distributor stated that those figures incorporated RMB40.42 million[48] worth of tickets handed out during the final 15 days of release for the film – an average of RMB2.7 million a day which according to calculations by National Business Daily accounts for virtually all of the film's box office earnings in that period.[25] The company also issued a statement on Chinese social media site Weibo, saying it had "instituted serious criticism" to those responsible for the suspect screenings.[47]
Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 64% approval rating, based on 22 reviews, with a rating average of 5.7 out of 10.[49] It has a score of 53% on Metacritic based on 14 reviews.[50]
Elizabeth Kerr of The Hollywood Reporter called it "A would-be epic adventure-fantasy that's epically muddled."[51] Edmund Lee of South China Morning Post gave it three out of five stars, and says it is "a distinctly Chinese live-action debut", but it "tackles a litany of clichéd Chinese attributes and is more engaging as cultural commentary than entertainment."[52] Derek Elley of Film Business Asia gave the film a 7 out of 10, calling it a "well-packaged family entertainment [that] disguises its unoriginality with top CG animation."[53] Simon Abrams, writing for Roger Ebert.com, awarded it 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying "The story never goes anywhere unexpected, but really, you should see "Monster Hunt" with your kids. It is silly and over-the-top and a great time-killer."[54] The A.V. Club gave a mixed review, saying "Monster Hunt combines a lot of qualities from the other items on the all-timer’s list: epic action, elaborate special effects, broad comedy, and a style that could best be described as “exhausting.”"[55]
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | |
Director of the Year[56] | Raman Hui | Won |
Sequels
Kong has confirmed a sequel is already in the works with a 2018 planned release.[4][12][13][15] And in August 2015, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter regarding the possibility of a potential sequel Hui said, "We need time to think about and prepare, it's become a phenomenon and people feel like they haven't seen enough."[14] In December 2015, Hui admitted he received a lot of calls from agents and producers, but said he won't have time to direct other movies since he was dedicated in developing Monster Hunt 2.[57] In April 2016, Bill Kong announced the sequel is scheduled for release in the summer of 2018. A third film was also announced.[58]
Notes
External links
- 1 2 3 捉妖记 (2015). movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
- ↑ Abid Rahman (July 28, 2015). "China Box Office: 'Monster Hunt' Gobbles Up the Competition, Breaks More Records". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 28, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Rob Cain (September 29, 2015). "Director Raman Hui Discusses His Monster Hit 'Monster Hunt', Part 2". Forbes. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Julie Makinen (31 July 2015). "'Monster Hunt,' a monster hit in China, was a scary journey for director Raman Hui". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
- ↑ Patrick Frater (November 5, 2015). "AFM: Producer Bill Kong Has 'Monster' Year". Variety. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- 1 2 "Monster Hunt (2015)". The Numbers. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
- ↑ "Monster Hunt (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
- ↑ Kevin Ma (May 15, 2014). "Edko kicks off Monster Hunt". Film Business Asia. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
- 1 2 3 Maggie Lee (July 28, 2015). "Film Review: 'Monster Hunt'". Variety. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ↑ Patriotic movie Monster Hunt passes Furious 7, becomes first Chinese film to take domestic box office crown in two decades, South China Morning Post, 12 September 2015
- ↑ Frater, Patrick (October 20, 2016). "Bai Baihe and Jing Boran on Board for 'Monster Hunt 2'". Variety. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Won Ho-jung (November 14, 2015). "HK director's 'Monster Hunt' breaks Chinese box office". AsiaOne. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Jaime Wolf (January 22, 2016). "The Animator Who Created "Monster Hunt"". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Abid Rahman (August 17, 2015). "'Monster Hunt': Director Raman Hui Talks About Making the Biggest Chinese Film Ever (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved August 18, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Edmund Lee (July 15, 2015). "How creative mind behind Shrek finally made his Hong Kong movie". South China Morning Post. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
- ↑ Sean Hutchinson (January 27, 2016). "How the Director of 'Monster Hunt' Brought China's Biggest Hit to America". Inverse. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Rob Cain (September 27, 2015). "An Interview With Raman Hui, Director of China's Blockbuster Hit 'Monster Hunt'". Forbes. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
- 1 2 Elozabeth Kerr (July 7, 2015). "'Monster Hunt': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ↑ Etan Vlessing (September 10, 2015). "TIFF: Chinese Blockbuster 'Monster Hunt' Nabbed by FilmRise for North America". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ↑ Dave McNary (10 September 2015). "Chinese Hit 'Monster Hunt' Sold to FilmRise for North America". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ↑ Ariana Bacle (December 11, 2015). "See the new trailer for Chinese blockbuster Monster Hunt". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
- ↑ Jor Morgenstern (January 21, 2016). "'Monster Hunt' Review: Chinese Action in an American Void". The Wall Street Journals. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
- 1 2 Brian Brooks (January 24, 2016). "Specialty Box Office – Newcomers Mostly Slow In The Snow; '45 Years' & 'Lady In The Van' Solid". Deadline. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Nancy Tartaglione (September 12, 2015). "'Monster Hunt' Overtakes 'F7' As All-Time China Box Office Champ In 2-Month Run". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved September 12, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Gabriel Wildau (December 7, 2015). "China's best-selling film accused of inflating box office". Financial Times. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
- ↑ "China Box Office for Monster Hunt (China) (2015)". The Numbers. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
- ↑ Patrick Brzeski (August 31, 2015). "China Box Office: 'Terminator Genisys' Marches Towards $100M". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved September 1, 2015.
- 1 2 Nancy Tartaglione (August 9, 2015). "'Monster Hunt' Passes 'Transformers 4′ In China; Now 2nd Highest-Grossing Film Ever". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved August 10, 2015.
- ↑ Abid Rahman (July 27, 2015). "'Monster Hunt' Becomes Highest-Grossing Chinese Movie Ever". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 27, 2015.
- ↑ Patrick Brzeski (February 19, 2016). "China Box Office: Stephen Chow's 'Mermaid' Becomes Highest-Grossing Film Ever". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
- ↑ Patrick Frater (January 8, 2016). "'Mojin' Breaks IMAX Box Office Record in China (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- ↑ "Family films smash box office records in China". Retrieved 2015-07-18.
- ↑ Rob Cain (July 17, 2015). "China Box Office: 'Monster Hunt' Scares Up Giant Debut". Forbes. Retrieved July 19, 2015.
- ↑ Nancy Tartaglione (July 20, 2015). "China Has 'Monster' Weekend As Blackout Continues To Boost Local Pics – Video". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 20, 2015.
- ↑ Brent Lang (July 19, 2015). "Chinese 3D Adventure 'Monster Hunt' Tops Foreign Box Office". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 20, 2015.
- ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (July 20, 2015). "'Ant-Man' Shrinks A Tick; China's 'Monster' Smash Tops Overseas; 'Minions' No. 1 WW – Intl Box Office Actuals". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
- ↑ Nancy Tartaglione (July 26, 2015). "China's 'Monster' No. 1 Again; 'Minions', 'Ant-Man' Lead Studios; 'Pixels' Powered By Latin America – Intl B.O. Update". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 27, 2015.
- ↑ Patrick Frater (July 27, 2015). "China Box Office: 'Monster Hunt' and 'Pancake Man' Keep a Lock on Second Weekend". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 28, 2015.
- ↑ Julie Makinen (August 18, 2015). "'Go Away Mr. Tumor' dethrones 'Monster Hunt' at China box office". The Hollywood Reporter. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
- ↑ Patrick Frater (July 23, 2015). "'Monster Hunt' Reaches $170 Million in Eight Days at China Box Office". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 26, 2015.
- ↑ "China Box Office: 'Monster Hunt' Scares Up Giant Debut". Forbes. July 17, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
- ↑ Nancy Tartaglione (July 27, 2015). "'Monster Hunt' Seizes China Record; Blackout Pics Begin To Close Gap With H'wd". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 27, 2015.
- ↑ Rob Cain (July 24, 2015). "How China Crushed Hollywood's Summer at the PRC Box Office". Forbes. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
- ↑ Nancy Tartaglione (December 30, 2015). "Hollywood's Year In China: Frustrations, Flimflam – And A New Hope For 2016". Deadline.com. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
- ↑ Sonia Kil (November 15, 2015). "Korea Box Office: 'The Priests' Holds Spell Over 'Spectre'". Variety. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ↑ "Monster Hunt (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Phil Hoad (December 7, 2015). "China box-office record breaker Monster Hunt 'manipulated figures'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ↑ http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2015-09-11/doc-ifxhupir7050550.shtml
- ↑ "Monster Hunt (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
- ↑ "Monster Hunt (2016)". Metacritic. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
- ↑ Elizabeth Kerr (July 7, 2015). "'Monster Hunt': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
- ↑ Edmund Lee. "Film review: Monster Hunt - a distinctly Chinese live-action debut". South China Morning Post.
- ↑ Derek Elley (September 30, 2015). "Monster Hunt". Film Business Asia. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/monster-hunt-2016
- ↑ http://www.avclub.com/review/monster-hunt-crude-exhausting-and-chinese-cinemas--230930
- ↑ "CineAsia to honor 'Monster Hunt' director Raman Hui". Film Journal. October 23, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- ↑ Thomas Schmid (December 3, 2015). "Box Office Monster: Animation vet Raman Hui earns CineAsia director honor". Film Journal International. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
- ↑ Brzeski, Patrick (April 18, 2016). "China's Film Industry Targets Merchandising as New Revenue Stream". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 19, 2016.