Selected as the Opening Film of the 2018 Shanghai International Film Festival, “Animal World” is the new film from director Han Yan, best known for “Go Away, Mr. Tumor”, which represented China at the 88th Academy Awards, and producer Chen Zhixi, famed for the hits “Lost in Thailand” and “Detective Chinatown”.
Based on the bestselling Japanese novel and anime series “Ultimate Survivor Kaiji” and described as China’s “The Hunger Games” meets “The Matrix”, the film is headlined by megastar Li Yi Feng (李易峰), joined by award-winning actress Zhou Dongyu (周冬雨) and Hollywood legend Michael Douglas.
The suspenseful action-packed blockbuster will have a national release across the UK via Cine Asia from 29th June, the same date the film will be released in China, and is expected to be one of the year’s biggest and most exciting hits.
Synopsis
Drifting aimlessly through life, Kaisi (Li Yi Feng: Hundred Flowers Winner “Mr. Six”, “Guilty of Mind”) has racked up debts of several million having borrowed money from his friends. Lured with the promise of writing it all off, Kaisi leaves his ailing mother and childhood sweetheart Qing (Zhou Dongyu: Golden Horse winner “Soul Mate”, “Under the Hawthorn Tree”, “The Thousand Faces of Dunjia”) to board the ship Destiny and attend a gambling party controlled by the mysterious Anderson (Michael Douglas: “Basic Instinct”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Wall Street”).
All players join the game with stars. For each game they lose, their opponent captures a star. Everyone is holding daggers behind their backs plotting dirty means by which to overcome their opponents. The game quickly deteriorates into a slaughter and Kaisi must battle save his own skin…