More than four years ago, just as China’s movie market was starting to boom, Thomas Tull, the producer behind blockbusters including “The Dark Knight,” “The Hangover,” “Man of Steel” and “300,” was casting about for a concept that might particularly suit Chinese audiences — and travel globally. His fanboy imagination wandered to the Great Wall. What if, he wondered, the iconic edifice was built not to keep out hordes of Mongolians and other human invaders, but to defend against fantastical monsters?
At the time, China’s annual box-office receipts were a mere $1.5 billion, a quarter of what they are today.