Jason Momoa headlines the titular role of Aquaman, the latest superhero film adapted from DC Comics books. [Photo provided to China Daily]
An upcoming superhero film creates an underwater universe for viewers, Xu Fan reports.
"Woo-hoo!" With this atypical greeting, US actor Jason Momoa strides into the room in a downtown Beijing hotel. Alongside him is director James Wan and actress Amber Heard.
As China will be the first country in the world to see Warner Brothers' and DC Entertainment's latest $160 million superhero film, Aquaman, the stars arrived in the Middle Kingdom's capital to start their global promotion tour.
This tour exemplifies how Hollywood values China-the world's second-largest movie market that many industry insiders estimate will overtake the current top dog, the United States, in a few years.
Aquaman is slated to be released in China on Dec 7, two weeks earlier than in North America.
And it marks the first time that domestic viewers will watch a DC superhero epic earlier than the rest of the world.
Momoa appears in Beijing on Nov 18 to promote the film, which will premiere in China two weeks earlier than in North America. [Photo provided to China Daily]
In the past, such a tentpole would usually come to China after being released in other countries, or be released in China at the same time as in the United States.
Following his appearance as Aquaman in the 2016 film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the 2017 ensemble, Justice League, the 1.93-meter-tall Momoa reprises his role of the king of the seven seas in the upcoming film.
His biggest challenge while making the movie, he says, was "just staying fit and not getting too injured".
Speaking about why he likes the Aquaman role, he points to the action sequences and adds that the nontraditional hero, who embodies many taboos, has a distinct personality. He also says that his character is the kind of guy who will probably punch Batman in the face if he gets mad.
Momoa, who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and educated in Iowa, where he majored in marine biology, says he has a deep connection with the ocean.
Aquaman is one of the most enduring superheroes in DC Comics' history. His origin story has been treated differently over the years.
The half-human, half-Atlantean figure, who can talk to fish, debuted in 1941. But the new movie is based on the Aquaman comic series done by Geoff Johns since 2011.
In the film, the son of a lighthouse keeper and a former queen from Atlantis, the fictional underwater civilization, Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, struggles with his identity. He's trapped between two worlds-the land and the ocean. But he has to step forward to lead his people in the deep sea with the assistance of Mera, an Atlantean woman, who becomes Aquaman's wife.
Speaking about the film, Wan, the Australian director born in Malaysia, says: "It's super exciting to adapt a character that is really popular in pop culture but has never had the opportunity to have a life of its own on from a cinematic standpoint."
Wan, who is known for The Conjuring franchise and Furious 7, is considered one of the most promising Asian faces in Hollywood. So, it's quite a surprise to his actors when he says that the Beijing event marks his first visit to China.
The 41-year-old of Chinese-Malaysian descent also says that he is fascinated by Chinese mythological superheroes, such as the Monkey King from the 16th-century novel, Journey to the West, thanks to his grandparents.
(From left) Actress Amber Heard, Momoa and director James Wan hold statues of carp, a symbol of fortune and luck, at the Beijing event. [Photo provided to China Daily]
One of his biggest challenges while shooting Aquaman initially was to build an underwater kingdom-a world scarcely featured on the silver screen. But what was at first an obstacle soon became an opportunity as it gave Wan and the design team lots of creative freedom.
This is evident in the recently released trailers that show spectacular creatures, ranging from giant sea horses and fierce sharks to black manta rays, gigantic crabs and huge turtles.
"This is a movie that we would not have been able to make five years ago," Wan says. "But now, we used this technique called 'dry-for-wet', which is to film the actors in a blue-screen environment after putting them in contraptions to simulate floating underwater."
Heard, who plays Mera, says she trained six days a week for more than four months. She was clad in a skin-tight suit and had to act on an empty film set that looked like an airline hangar.
Meanwhile, as fans await the breathtaking underwater duels, there's another "battle" looming off-screen.
Over the past decade, Marvel superheroes have grossed nearly 13 billion yuan ($1.9 billion), and Venom is now ruling in domestic theaters.
So, will the comparatively lackluster DC superheroes now overcome their powerful rivals in China?
