Eddie Peng is "Wu Kong" in his New Film

I can’t keep track of the number of adaptations based on the Journey to the West but it looks like Wu Kong 悟空传 is another movie on the roster and it is directed by Derek Kwok who brings some ‘Monkey King’ experience with him after working on Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West in 2013.

The story is loosely based on a 2000 novel by Jin He Zai 今何在 who also wrote Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy. Instead of the classic fantasy fiction, it tells a time before the heroes became the mythological figures that we have come to know. Wu Kong joins a school to master the art of cultivation, which begins an adventure revolving around friends turned enemies.

The film shifts some of the focus from the many romances to the brotherhood between Wu Kong and Er Lang Shen, played respectively by Eddie Peng (The Great Wall) and Shawn Yue. In case you are unaware of the significance of this moment, the two actors are reuniting for the first time since the hit Taiwanese drama Tomorrow in 2002. They’re excited. I’m excited. Who isn’t?

The rest of the cast includes Ni Ni (The Warriors Gate), Oho Ou (Legend of the Cat Demon), Zheng Shuang (Just One Smile is Very Alluring), Qiao Shan and Faye Yu.

Release Date: July 13, 2017 in China and select theaters in the US