'Animal World'(Live for Film)

Director Han Yan's 'Animal World' has been released last week and it has immediately shot up to number 1 on its opening day.

The movie, which stars pop idol Li Yifeng, actress Zhou Dongyu, and Hollywood star Michael Doughlas, reported a 70 million yuan revenue on Friday and it is expected by Chinese film database Maoyan to gross up to 500 million yuan.

The story was adapted from Japanese artist Nobuyuki Fukumoto's manga "Ultimate Survivor Kaiji" and follows the story of a young man who suddenly found himself heavily in debt and got forced into taking part in a mysterious gambling party on a ship.

During the production of the film, Han - who is well-known for his 2015 work 'Go Away Mr. Tumor' - used a smartphone to shoot "sets" built out of Lego bricks to make some of the fantasy elements of the film more visible and ensure that his stage directions were easier to follow.

The visual efects were done by New Zealand's Weta Digital.

The movie will be marketed overseas through Netflix as announced earlier this month.