From left: The film features blockbuster favorites including Angela Baby, Shu Qi and Chen Kun, who plays the leader of the three-member tomb raiders' gang.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Top stars Chen Kun, Shu Qi and Huang Bo－favorites for blockbusters－play the roles of three descendants of professional tomb raiders who had developed this "career" more than a 1,000 years ago.

Nearly 90 percent of scenes of the afterlife were created using digital technology, while the rest were shot in New York and the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Leading an international team with a crew from China, South Korea and the United States, Wuershan, known for the fantasy franchise Painted Skin, hired 12 sound stages, which covered a total area of 50,000 square meters, on the outskirts of Beijing.

Chen Kun, who plays the leader of the three-member tomb raiders' gang, Hu Bayi, says: "The director and art designers are excellent filmmakers. They did their best to make us understand what happens in the movie."

A full-length animated production was done to let the crew and cast see the scenes. This made it easier for the actors to work in front of green screens.

But as Wuershan says: "The biggest challenge was to strike a balance, as the film needed to blend oriental philosophy－the meanings of death and afterworld－into a commercial genre."