Director Roland Emmerich (center) at the filming set of his latest film Midway.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The nation sheltered US Navy pilots during the Pacific campaign, and now a Chinese studio is backing Roland Emmerich's war epic to reach the silver screen, Xu Fan reports.

Roland Emmerich and his thrilling box-office hits over the years-from Independence Day to Godzilla and The Day after Tomorrow-have been etched into the minds of Chinese film fans as Hollywood blockbusters.

The director's excellence in shooting special effects has won him a reputation among his Chinese fan base as, jokingly, "the man who is best at destroying Earth" in Hollywood.

Recently, Emmerich returned to Chinese theaters with his war epic Midway, which revisits one of the most pivotal battles in the US Navy's history.

As of Wednesday, the film that debuted in Chinese mainland theaters on Friday had grossed 142 million yuan ($20.2 million).

Recently knocking local hit Better Days off the top spot, Midway has occupied the top place in the box-office charts and obtained a score of 7.6 points out of 10 on Chinese review website Douban.

The idea for the film spawned from a documentary that Emmerich watched around 20 years ago, said the 64-year-old German director following a preview screening at a downtown Beijing cinema on Nov 3.