Brave bid to break jinx

On a big screen at a downtown Beijing mall, the world's first and most-powerful mutant wakes up after a long slumber.

"Everything they've built will fall. And from the ashes of their (humanity's) world, we'll build a better one," says the titular baddie of the upcoming superhero film X-Men: Apocalypse.

The trailer was broadcast on the screen, attracting hundreds of viewers.

Outside the mall, screaming fans lined up along the red carpet.

Actor Evan Peters, who plays Quicksilver; actress Sophie Turner, who plays Phoenix; and director Bryan Singer waved to, and posed for selfies with, Chinese enthusiasts. They also signed autographs.

An interesting mix of the fictional and the real world, the latest X-Men film hopes to cast a spell on Chinese audiences, which now comprise the world's second-largest movie market.

However, the biggest installment in X-Men history - which comprises nine films in 16 years - could face some hurdles.

Industry sources say its Chinese mainland premiere date, June 3, is "bad timing" for films in the genre, as two superhero films released this year have bombed.

Both the films featured lots of action and big casts. But Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (released on March 25) and Captain America: Civil War (May 6) left ordinary Chinese moviegoers perplexed. While Chinese moviegoers loved the spectacular scenes, they were left a bit confused by the characters.

This was probably due to the fact that, while their counterparts in the United States have had access to superhero comic books, where they have been around for around 80 years, Chinese viewers have no such cultural background to fall back on.

So, will X-Men: Apocalypse face a similar problem, given that audiences here lack background knowledge?

Responding to the concern, Singer says that, despite this film's position in the series, it's actually the first one and an original story.

"It (the film) is about the birth and formation of the X-Men," says Singer, speaking to China Daily during his Beijing promotional tour.

"My son is 15 months old. When he is the right age, this will be the first X-Men movie that I'm going to show him ... I think Apocalypse is a movie for people with the least knowledge of the X-Men series or Marvel comic books."

Singer, 51, is regarded as the godfather of X-Men movies.

The American director and author is known for mixing his personal and sociopolitical thoughts with comic content, which bridges the gap between fans and regular viewers.

As for Professor Xavier, believed to be modeled on Martin Luther King and Magneto, based Malcolm X, Singer sees the two mutant leaders as representing different attitudes toward minority groups.

As for the director's takes on discrimination and bias, a 40-minute preview of the 144-minute feature shows a couple of young mutants, Angel and Nightcrawler, captured by humans and forced to fight each other.

The fear and desperation on Nightcrawler's face portrays a victim's feelings in a society that excludes him.

Weaving real history into a fictional tale is another feature that makes the X-Men movies different from other comic-adapted films.

The movie X-Men (2000) began with scenes in the World War II Auschwitz concentration camp, and X-Men: First Class (2011) was set in the 1960s during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The latest film has a background based on the Cold War and nuclear threats.

Speaking of the film's appeal, Singer says: "It (the movie) is not only for fans, but also for people who've never seen X-Men films before."

For die-hard fans, the movie has elements to draw them to theaters.

For instance, Quicksilver, who has the ability to move at great speed, will reveal his relationship with Magneto in the movie.

Sharing his experience of acting in the film, Peters, who plays Quicksilver, says: "This movie is more like the first X-Men movie for me, as in the last one I sort acted like a guest star."

Elaborating on his role, he says: "Quicksilver (in the movie) tries to connect with his estranged father. But Magneto has experienced something terrible, which makes him turn bad. And Quicksilver wants to help his father see the light."

Speaking of the technical challenges encountered during filming, Peters says that as his character moves at superfast speeds in the film, the crew took more than one month to shoot his sequences and did the filming at 3,000 frames per second.

But the sequences in the movie last for only two and a half minutes.

Before this, the record for frames per second was held by Ang Lee's military drama, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, which was shot at the frame rate of 120 frames per second.

Giving more details of the shoot, Peters says it was challenging and very fun.

There were many green screens but also a beautiful set, he says.

Singer says he used Simul-Cam technology, which was first introduced by James Cameron in Avatar, to let actors see what would actually occur in the movie, though they were performing on a sound stage covered with green screens.

The 20-year-old actress Turner, who plays the young Jean Grey, also known as Phoenix, calls her role an "exciting" career opportunity.