The Monkey King 3
The Monkey King 3 is a 2018 Chinese fantasy film based on the classic novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en. The film is the third installment of the Monkey King franchise, after The Monkey King (2014) and The Monkey King 2 (2016). Directed by Cheang Pou-soi, it stars Aaron Kwok, Feng Shaofeng, Zhao Liying, Xiaoshenyang and Him Law. The film was released on February 16, 2018, the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday period.[4]
Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang (William Feng Shaofeng) and his disciples – Wukong the Monkey King (Aaron Kwok Fu-shing), pig demon Bajie (Xiao Shenyang) and the blue-skinned sand demon Wujing (Him Lo Chung-him) – inadvertently enter the Womanland of Western Liang, a nation populated by women raised to believe that men are fatally deceptive in matters of the heart.
Love nevertheless blossoms between Tang Sanzang and the Womanland’s young queen (Zhao Liying), even though her royal preceptor (Gigi Leung Wing-kei) is hell-bent on sentencing the men to death. As Wukong and Co. search for a way out of this nation surrounded by a vast magical net, it soon transpires, conveniently, that romantic love is the only key to opening the gate. Will Tang Sanzang give up on his sacred mission and stay with the queen?
On 4 December 2016, it was announced that Zhao Liying would play the role of the Ruler of Women’s Country.[5] The original cast members of The Monkey King 2: Aaron Kwok, Feng Shaofeng, Xiaoshenyang and Him Law would be reprising their roles as Sun Wukong, Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing respectively in the film.[6] On 1 March 2017, Liu Tao, Lin Chi-ling, and Gigi Leung were reported to have joined the cast.[7]
