Film poster of The Monkey King 2. [Photo/CCTV.com]

The Monkey King is a favourite hero with both movie and TV audiences. As China prepares to welcome in its New Year of the Monkey, he is even more ubiquitous.

The film The Monkey King took in more than one billion yuan ($152 million) after its release in 2014. Now, a 3D sequel - Monkey King 2 is coming to movie screens with a new story and a new cast.

The film is adapted from Journey to the West, one of China's four major literary classics, and stars actors from both Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. 

Aaron Kwok plays the Monkey King himself - a role, he says, that comes with enormous pressure, given the list of actors who have preceded him in the role.

"I have not starred in such a challenging film for more than 20 years. The demands from both a physical and mental perspective were huge. I will have no regrets about my acting career after playing this role," Kwok said.

Before each day of filming, Kwok had to spend seven hours putting on make-up, but even that was not his biggest challenge.

"The most painful thing was that you couldn't drink water because if you had to go to the restroom, you would have to spend half an hour taking your costume off and 45 minutes taking your fingers off and sticking them on again. So it was impossible to do that. You had to hold on. You could only drink one drop of water at a time to quench your thirst," Kwok said.

Actor Feng Shaofeng plays Tang Sanzang, a humorous monk. He sustained injury during filming from falling off his horse.

"I was on the horse. And then the Pig, played by Xiao Shenyang, showed up with a bunch of beauties, frightened the horse, which reared up. He stared at me dumbfounded. Actually, I was stunned at the time, and my mind went blank after the fall," Feng said.

Monkey King 2 comes to movie theaters on Feb 8, the first day of the Chinese New Year.