Jet Li in Feng Shen Bang
Feng Shen Bang [3D] (international title: League of Gods) is a Hong Kong-Chinese fantasy film
directed by Koan Hui and Vernie Yeung. The movie is based on the popular fantasy novel
Fengshen Yanyi written by Xu
Zhonglin during the Ming dynasty and selected cast for the new movie will include Jet Li,
Tony Leung, Louis Koo, Huang Xiaoming, Angelababy, Wen Zhang and Jacky Heung. The film is scheduled to be
completed and released in China in 29 July 2016. Principal photography began on 21 January 2015
with a budget of HK$300 million.
Fengshen Yanyi, also known as
Fengshen Bang and translated to different titles such as
The Investiture of the Gods,
The Apotheosis of Heroes or
The Canonisation of the Gods,
is a 16th-century Chinese novel
and one of the major vernacular Chinese works in the gods and demons (shenmo) genre written during the
Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The original story onsisting of 100 chapters was first published in book form
around the 1550s and combines elements of history, folklore, mythology, legends and fantasy.
The story is set in the era of the decline of the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BC) and the rise of the Zhou dynasty
(1046-256 BC). It intertwines numerous elements of Chinese mythology, including deities, immortals and spirits.
The novel is a romanticised retelling of the overthrow of King Zhou, the last ruler of the Shang dynasty, by
Ji Fa, who would establish the Zhou dynasty in its place. The story integrates oral and written tales of many
Chinese mythological figures who are involved in the struggle as well. These figures include human heroes,
immortals and various spirits (usually represented in avatar form like vixens, and pheasants, and sometimes
inanimate objects such as a pipa).
Bewitched by his concubine Daji, who is actually a vixen spirit in disguise as a beautiful woman, King Zhou of
Shang oppresses his people and persecutes those who oppose him, including his own subjects who dare to speak
up to him. Ji Fa (King Wu of Zhou), assisted by his strategist Jiang Ziya, rallies an army to overthrow the
tyrant and restore peace and order. Throughout the story, battles are waged between the kingdoms of Shang and
Zhou, with both sides calling upon various supernatural beings - deities, immortals, demons, spirits, and
humans with magical abilities - to aid them in the war. Yuanshi Tianzun bestows upon Jiang Ziya the Fengshen
Bang, a list that empowers him to invest the gods of Heaven. The heroes of Zhou and some of their fallen
enemies from Shang are eventually endowed with heavenly ranking and essentially elevated to their roles as
gods, hence the title of the novel.
Directed by: Vernie Yeung and Koan Hui
Produced by:Charles Heung and Tiffany
Chen Ming-Yin
Production company: China Star Entertainment Group
Language: Mandarin, Cantonese
Budget: HK$300 million
** Release date:29 July 2016
CAST:
?? Shu Qi as Daji
??? Tony Leung as King Zhou of Shang
??? Jet Li as Jiang Ziya
?? Wen Zhang as Nezha
?? Jacky Heung as Leizhenzi
??? Louis Koo as Kongque Mingwang
?? Angelababy as Mermaid
??? Huang Xiaoming as Erlang Shen
Based on the fantasy novel
Fengshen Yanyi by Xu Zhonglin
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