No Man Land, a Chinese movie done in the Hollywood style, is finally ready to meet the public after four years.

At a press conference held Friday, leading actors Xu Zheng, Huang Bo and Yu Nan, together with director Ning Hao, showed up in Beijing and formally announced that No Man Land would come out in theaters December 3.

"Huang Bo and Xu Zheng were born for holiday films. When it comes to the winter holiday season, audiences will miss this duo, so the producer set release date to December 3," Ning told the media.

The reason for the delay is not so simple.

Shooting for No Man Land began in March 2009, quickly following the success of Ning's Silver Medalist (2009), and wrapped three months later in June. The film was planned to be released that winter.

Yet, in November 2009, Ning said the film wouldn't be able to stick to that schedule, because some scenes needed to be reshot.

Then, in early 2010, No Man Land was rejected by the censoring body formerly known as the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Several months later, despite receiving approval, the film continued to be pushed back, later and later, until this month, when rumors of a forthcoming release rose again.

Netizens speculate that the rejection from authorities was due to the lack of good men represented in the film.

No Man Land focuses on fictional lawyer Huang Hai (Xu Zheng), who takes on a case in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. He's then hunted down by a killer on his way back through the desert. While fleeing danger, he comes across various figures: a dancing girl, a thief and a police officer.

In the film, the lawyer is an unscrupulous man, and the policeman is incompetent.

According to Xiaoxiang Morning Herald, Zhao Baohua, one of the censors, once commented that most of the figures in the film are negative, and Ning violated the real truth in life just to please audiences.

Yet, the delay now does not seem to be bad for the producers. After Lost in Thailand (2012), Xu and Huang became two of the most popular actors in the Chinese film industry.

Now the film is to compete with director Feng Xiaogang's Personal Tailor in December. Ning said he doesn't care too much about winning at the box office. He simply hopes to give audiences "a different holiday season film."