Monster Hunt (Chinese: 捉妖记) is a 2015 mainland Chinese-Hong Kong 3D fantasy action comedy adventure film directed by Raman Hui (in his feature directorial debut).

[1][10] Upon release, it became a huge commercial success, breaking numerous box office records, including the highest-grossing film in China,[11] before The Mermaid took the crown in 2016.

They once shared the world in peace and harmony until the Humans drove the Monsters out from their home, for they sought total dominion over their lands.

The story begins with Song Tianyin, an unnerved young village mayor who becomes pregnant with the Monster Queen's baby, and he encounters an aspiring Monster-hunter named Huo Xiaolan, and they both embark on an adventure to protect the baby from villains of the Human and Monster worlds alike.

[14] The idea for the film began in 2005 when Hui—who was living in Hollywood at that time—approached producer Bill Kong on the possibility of making an animated movie in China.

[15] But about three years later in 2008, Kong, while visiting Hollywood, invited Hui out for drinks on Sunset Boulevard and asked him if he could make a live-action film with computer graphics for him.

Alan finished the script alone by the summer of 2009 taking vague inspiration from monsters mentioned in classical Chinese literature, but with an original story.

[14] "It's a weird book from old China, a bit like Nat Geo [National Geographic] with descriptions of monsters living in the mountains.

[16] Finally, Hui and Yuen went to a Beijing-based visual effects house, Base FX, and made a four-minute test film in 2012.

Hui's initial reaction was that the incident and subsequent arrest of Ko would give him more time to work on the special effects even better.

[5][14] However, such a massive undertaking would have to cost millions of dollars; they would have to refilm 70% and redo 25% of the special-effects work, call back the cast and crew, find a new leading man and rebuild sets.

[14] Every day, as he completed his shots, Hui would edit and send the footage to Base FX so that effects work could start immediately.

[5] In addition to redoing all the scenes that had previously contained Ko, Hui and Kong added several new sequences and new roles and cameos for some additional well-known actors, such as Yao Chen to boost the movie's star quotient,[5][14] Hui initially felt wary and skeptical if the film would find success at the box office.

[5] According to Christopher Bremble, chief executive of Base FX, his initial reaction about refilming was fear and concern for Kong, who had made a big investment in the project.

[21][22] In the same month, Hui told Forbes about the possibility to dub the film in English since younger audiences would find it difficult to read the subtitles.

[13] Due to time constraints, the producers of the film were unable to put licensing deals in place which resulted in a loss of potential ancillary revenue.

[4] After just two weeks of release Monster Hunt became the highest-grossing Chinese local movie of all time and in September overtook Furious 7 as the highest ever.

However, that's reflective of market fluctuations over the past few months: when Furious 7 ended its China run in mid-May, the conversion from the yuan came to US$391.2 million.

1 at the Chinese box office, it was finally replaced by Go Away Mr. Tumor in its fifth weekend, another film also starring Bai Baihe.

[27] Furthermore, in September, CCTV also reported that the company might have exploited the "public welfare screening" – a common practice for Chinese theaters and production companies to offer free tickets to young children, seniors, key workers, police, teachers and the disabled and in the same month it was found that public welfare screenings of the film at three different theaters were completely empty.

[27] The company also issued a statement on Chinese social media site Weibo, saying it had "instituted serious criticism" to those responsible for the suspect screenings.

"[56] Simon Abrams, writing for Roger Ebert.com, awarded it 2.5 out of 4 stars, saying "The story never goes anywhere unexpected, but really, you should see "Monster Hunt" with your kids.

Club gave a mixed review, saying "Monster Hunt combines a lot of qualities from the other items on the all-timer’s list: epic action, elaborate special effects, broad comedy, and a style that could best be described as "exhausting.