approaches the mountain. Cast Production In 2010, when the film was first announced, both Jet Li and Donnie Yen were eyed for a role. Yen was cast to play the title role of the Monkey King that May. Later, Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok were cast as the Jade Emperor and Bull Demon King respectively. Kwok's role was said to be breaking traditions for being handsome, stylish and fighting for love. The film was originally budgeted at 300 million yuan but later was raised to 400 million. Production companies include Filmko, Mandarin Films, China Film Group, Shenzhen Golden Shores Films, Zhejiang HG Entertainment, Dongguan Boning Entreprise and Investment, Beijing Wen Hua Dong Run Investment Co., Ltd., China Film Co-Production Corporation, and Global Star Productions, Inc. Michael Wehrhahn, President of Global Star Production, Inc, joined the forces with former Imagine Films / Universal Television president Robert Harris in producing and releasing high end features for the U.S. and Asian markets. Additional cast members included Cecilia Cheung, Gigi Leung, Kelly Chen, Peter Ho, Joe Chen and Liu Ye. Zhang Zilin, winner of Miss World 2007, joined to the film, playing the role of Nüwa, replacing Cecilia Cheung, who was originally cast in the role. Zhang claimed that she never heard that Cheung was to be in the film. For the 3-D shoot, Filmko recruited Hollywood talents. The crew includes David Ebner (Alice in Wonderland, Spider-Man 3), who served as visual effects supervisor for the film and Shaun Smith (The Forbidden Kingdom, 300, I Am Legend) as the special make-up supervisor. Release The original poster had a release date of February 2012, but the film was postponed. After several delays, the film was finally released on 30 January 2014 in Hong Kong and 31 January in China. It was released in the United States in 2015. Reception James Marsh of ScreenAnarchy referred to it as a "Hot Mess From The Heavens", saying it has poor CGI effects and a weak script, while praising lead actor Donnie Yen's performance as Sun Wukong, but ultimately writing Wukong as "a somewhat irritating character who can be difficult to sympathise with". Maggie Lee of Variety calls it "a simplistic, action-driven narrative with inexhaustible energy, but little style or substance". Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter writes "The Monkey King is filled to the brim with gravity-defying saints and sprites zipping across the screen in a litany of