Han Sanping speaks at a premiere ceremony in Guangzhou, Guangdong on Tuesday, September 15, 2009. [sina.com]

Director Han Sanping has revealed that a prequel to his historical movie "The Founding of a Republic", set for general release this Thursday, is set to be made and released in 2011.

The prequel, which will be about the founding of China's Communist Party, will feature more stars than "The Founding of a Republic". Young rising stars will be cast since the characters will be 20 years younger, Han said.

As the chairman of China Film Group Corporation, China's largest and most influential state-run film enterprise, Han Sanping made his directorial debut, "The Founding of a Republic", with a peerless stellar cast.

The 172-strong cast included some 80 A-list actors and actresses, and the country's top directors.

Many of them appeared for only several seconds in the 140-minute movie. For example, action star Jet Li has only three lines and director John Woo's scenes have been totally removed.

"Director Chen Kaige gave me the suggestion of an all-star cast before the shooting started," Han told the New Beijing Times.

"We finished the script just ten months ago. All our resources were used for the production," the movie tycoon said.

"Basically, building up the all-star cast aims to attract the audience to the theaters. Artistically, casting stars who have superb acting skills was the only choice to finish the project in such short time."

"If the movie proves to be a box office success, it may become a model for tribute films," he added.

During a promotional tour of "The Founding of a Republic", Han and some cast members attended a premiere ceremony at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou, Guangdong on Tuesday.

More than 2,000 tickets for the premiere have been sold. The earnings exceeded 70,000 yuan, setting a national box office record for the best opening, a theatre official told Sina.com.

Zhao Jun, general manager of the local distributor, said he estimated the box office income in the province will reach 50 million yuan, reported the Guangzhou Daily.

"If so, the grossing in the whole country will be above 450 million yuan," Han Sanping was quoted as saying - that means it will break China's box office record of 430 million yuan set by "Transformers II".

(CRI September 17, 2009)