(From right) Wuershan, Chen Kuo-fu, Ye Ning, Wang Zhonglei and Wang Changtian attend the press conference for The Ghouls on Tuesday. Photo: CFP

Two years after the Wanda group purchased the copyrights to the latter four books of the popular series of online novels Ghost Blows Out the Light (Gui Chui Deng), a press conference was held on Tuesday to commemorate the beginning of production on the film adaptation of the series: The Ghouls.

The original series of online novels, the first of which was originally released on literature portal qidian.com in March 2006, recounts the fictional adventures of two grave robbers who use their knowledge of Chinese metaphysics to uncover ancient tombs. Together with The Grave Robbers' Chronicles (Daomu Biji), the two series have created a craze for adventure stories taking place among ancient burial grounds.

While it's still unclear when the film adaptation of The Grave Robbers' Chronicles, which is currently in pre-production, will release, The Ghouls is set to release on December 18, 2015. Director Wuershan, known for fantasy blockbuster Painted Skin II, will step behind the directorial helm, while Taiwan director and scriptwriter Chen Kuo-fu will act as producer. The author of Ghost Blows Out the Light, Zhang Muye, or as he is known by his pen name Tianxia Bachang, is also on the team as a scriptwriter. No names for the lead roles have been announced yet, but it's pretty much a guarantee that considering the popularity of this series the production company will do its best to get A-list actors so as not to disappoint audiences.

Breaking ground

"This story will raise the bar for movies," Ye Ning, vice president of the Wanda Cultural Industry Group, praised The Ghouls at the press conference. "The Chinese movie industry is in need of this type of film," he added. Besides holding the copyright, Wanda is also one of the production companies behind the film.

While he agrees with Ye, Chen feels that it's actually quite difficult to pin The Ghouls down to one specific genre of film. "This type of movie doesn't exist among [current] Chinese language movies," Chen noted, explaining that it's neither a traditional adventure nor an action movie, and cannot be shoehorned into one of Hollywood's numerous genres.

"[It makes you believe] the characters are real people and that what they experience could really happen. Yet, it is also a world full of imagination and [the film] will be filled with special effects. You might call it a fantastical reality," Chen told the media.  

While he finds it difficult to successfully define the film, he said he felt good about the film's potential long before he read the book.

"It will be profitable for sure. It has such clear product positioning and is a brand in and of itself," Chen said with full confidence. 

However, not everyone is convinced. Considering film authorities' ban on superstitious elements in film, many people are left wondering if the story's more "supernatural" topics such as ghosts, zombies and spirits will be able to make it into the big screen version in their original form.

"Although the title of the book mentions ghosts, readers know that ghosts don't actually exist and that all this type of phenomena can be explained with science," the author answered. "It's actually not superstitious elements that readers fancy but the exploration of the unknown."

Zhang also revealed that a Hollywood company once approached him with the intention of buying the copyright to his book, but in the end he refused the offer.

"Hollywood movies have their success stories, but I personally don't think [the story] can be adapted in a Hollywood manner. [Things like] fengshui are closely related to Chinese culture, which is something few Westerners can fully understand. I've watched a few kung fu movies produced by Hollywood, but they come across as more like comedies to us," said Zhang.

Cooperation: a future trend

Normally competitors against each other, Wanda, Huayi Brothers Media and Enlight Media, the three giants behind most of the movies made in China today, have now come together to work on The Ghouls.

Representatives from all three companies at the press conference stated that they believe that cooperation will become a future trend in China's film industry.

"The current film market in China is exciting and optimistic … Each side has its advantages when it comes to resources, but I feel there is a need for something which unites us all," Ye stated to the agreement of Wang Changtian, president of Enlight. 

Explaining his reasoning behind his agreement, Wang said the companies are looking to form a "national team" for the production of Chinese movies. Their goal would be to produce films that would not only be competitive in the domestic market but also stand side by side with Hollywood blockbusters in the international market. 

"We won't do this for every movie, but today's cooperation won't be just a special case. Many future movies will also be produced in this manner," Wang Zhonglei, president of Huayi Brothers said, adding that in some mature movie industries like Hollywood, this is very common. "A movie may be made by Sony but distributed by Paramount. This is just a beginning for us, but we hope domestic movie companies can make this unity a trend."