A poster for San Andreas starring Dwayne Johnson Photo:CFP

"Sweet, the way you smile is so sweet," sang muscular tough guy Dwayne Johnson in Chinese as he performed the classic Chinese love song "Tian Mi Mi" with a huge smile on his face at a press conference for San Andreas on Thursday in Beijing, stirring a rush of excitement from the crowd.

Just two days after premiering at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, director Brat Peyton, actor Dwayne Johnson and actress Carla Gugino brought their disaster film San Andreas to China. Holding a red carpet premiere on Friday, the film releases nationwide in domestic theaters on Tuesday.

This is the both Peyton and Gugino's first visit to Beijing, but Johnson's second, having previously come here last year for Hercules. Chinese moviegoers welcomed the trio with their sweetest smiles.

Emotional heart

In San Andreas, Johnson plays a L.A. Fire Department helicopter rescue pilot. After a devastating earthquake hits San Francisco and almost destroys the entire city, he and his ex-wife (Gugino) do all they can to get to and rescue their daughter in San Francisco.

"I'm happy with the movie I've made, it's the best film I can possibly make at this point of my career," Peyton told the Global Times, answering the criticism the film has received.

Since its release, the film has received mixed reviews. On movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 48 percent rating from critics, with the critic consensus reading: "San Andreas has a great cast and outstanding special effects, but amidst all the senses-shattering destruction, the movie's characters and plot prove less than structurally sound." Audiences, however, have given the film a higher score of 64 percent.

Peyton is famous for his previous two action films Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the latter also starring Johnson. When it came to making a disaster film, Peyton said that it was the parts of the story beyond the spectacle, a family trying to reunite during a disaster, that first attracted him when he read the script.

Gugino told the Global Times that when she read the script she felt deeply moved by the time she was halfway through: "It's an intimate story about these characters, of this family. The fact this broken family comes together because of this crisis.

"I think that in a way, the movie could work well without the emotional components, but the emotional components make the movie very special."

While this emotional center may add another layer to the film, its devastating earthquake scenes and shattered skyscrapers are a huge draw for audiences. Peyton said there were nearly 1,400 visual effects scenes that needed to be designed, almost three times the amount seen in Journey 2. In order to make sure he drew on his own imagination for these scenes, he kept himself from watching any other disasters films after he decided to make San Andreas.

"The power of human souls is something that I really believe in," he said. "It's my third movie, I have a lot more movies in me and I'll get better. But I'm also very proud of the film I made."

Peyton explained that he was excited about bringing his film to China because the massive number of screens in the country means audiences here love movies. He went on to say that back when he first started to make films, he hoped to one day make a movie so big that it would even reach the small town where his parents live in Canada. Now with San Andreas' global release, it seems he has finally reached his goal.

Frequent visitor

Johnson has long been known by Chinese audiences for his "tough guy" image, but more recently his fame in the country has been on the rise. In 2014, he came to Beijing for the red carpet premiere of Hercules, in which he played the leading role of the mythological hero. The film earned 81 million yuan ($13 million) at the mainland box office.

In April of this year, Johnson swept Chinese cinemas in Furious 7, which established an all new record high box office of 2.4 billion yuan, beating the record that Transformers: Age of Extinction set in Chinese market in 2014.

Coming here once again for San Andreas, it seems Johnson has become a veteran Chinese visitor.

"The most special thing is the reaction from fans," Johnson told the Global Times.

"When I come here to Beijing, it's unlike any other place that I come to in terms of fan reactions, and not only at the premiere." 

He gave an example about a day when he was working out at a large populated gym in Beijing. Although everybody recognized him, they didn't approach him until he was done with his work out, at which point people went crazy and started taking selfies with him. The love and respect from fans in China greatly impressed him. 

Although he has become famous for playing many types of heroic characters, he explained he loves the character in San Andreas since "he is still a man who has his feet firmly on the ground."

"Dwayne plays the hero very very well, but he never played this type of guy," said Payton, explaining the minute he decided to make the film, he couldn't help but take it to Johnson so he could see him playing this blue-collar and traumatized hero.

"I give him an 11," Peyton said rating Johnson's performance. "I've never seen him this vulnerable before… Tears are right behind his eyes, he's trying his best to keep it together, it's so raw, so vulnerable."