Director Lu said he spent five years producing the project, which took almost 800 artists about two and a half years to create  the special effects.

More than six months ahead of the screening, Lu and his colleagues were only getting about four hours of sleep a night to meet their deadline, he recalled.

Lu also said the film will be followed by a sequel to add new roles, as well as unraveling the past of the tyrant Lord Redmane, also known as Chi Fa Gui (red-hair demon), and how the tyrant was transformed from an ordinary human being to a 15-meter-tall, four-arm monster.