‘Journey to the West’ Animated Film Trilogy Set at Stars Collective (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Stars Collective Film Entertainment Group is mounting an ambitious animated film trilogy based on “Journey to the West,” one of China’s four great classical novels, the company revealed on the first day of Hong Kong FilMart.

The trilogy — comprising “Bajie,” “Monkey King” and “Nezha” — aims to introduce and expand Eastern mythology to global audiences, building on recent successes in the space.

The project comes as Eastern mythology continues gaining traction in entertainment, with video game ”Black Myth: Wukong,” which is based on Chinese mythology, hitting record-breaking sales of 28 million copies ($1.25 billion in revenue) since its August 2024 release, while Lunar New Year release “Ne Zha 2” has passed $2 billion at the global box office. “Journey to the West,” which has been translated into more than 40 languages, is described as an Eastern fusion of “The Odyssey” and “The Lord of the Rings,” spanning realms of gods, demons and humans.

Currently in script development, the trilogy is set to commence production in 2026, using AI-generated animation and motion capture to create a hyper-realistic mythological world. “Bajie” will lead the series as the first production.