'Three Body' trilogy coming to the big screen

The book covers of the best-selling Chinese science fiction trilogy "Three Body." [File photo]

Yoozoo Pictures announced on Thursday that they will spend 1.2 billion yuan (US$195.5 million) to make the best-selling Chinese science fiction trilogy "Three Body" into a series of 6 movies.

Yoozoo Pictures, a newly established movie company headed by online game entrepreneur Lin Qi and online novel writer Kong Xiangzhao, revealed that each film in the "Three Body" series will cost 200 million yuan (US$32.58 million) to make. Zhang Fanfan, a newbie horror movie creator who directed "Lost In Panic Room" and "Lost In Panic Cruise," has been named to direct the films.

Liu Cixin, the original writer of the "Three Body" trilogy, will be an executive producer for the "Three Body" movies. At the press conference, Liu said that he had only communicated with Kong Xiangzhao a few times before, but that he was impressed with the Yoozoo team today.

Liu is one of the most popular and most prolific science fiction writers in China. He is an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award for science-fiction writing and a recipient of the Nebula Award.

The "Three Body" trilogy is like a sci-fi bible in many Chinese fans' eyes, but Yoozoo Pictures is a new company and director Zhang Fanfan is a low-rated director who has never helmed any blockbuster; so when the news of the "Three Body" movies came out, unconvinced fans screamed and complained on various social networking platforms that this science fiction classic will be made into a nightmare of a film. They begged producers to change the director or to simply leave "Three Body" alone.

A new concept teaser trailer for the "Three Body" movies was also posted online and screened at the press conference. Unsatisfied fans dismissed it as terrible, with visual effects that are even worse than a video game.

But Yoozoo president Kong Xiangzhao didn't agree. "'Three Body' is a great science fiction work, and it must be done by Chinese. Even if it will be made into a bad movie, it should be Chinese people who will have done the job," Kong joked.