The Secret of Immortal Code, starring actress Liang Jing [Photo provided to China Daily]

As a fan of Ridley Scott, producer Wang Donghui says he has watched the British filmmaker's sci-fi classic Alien (1979) more than a hundred times.

For Wang, himself educated in Britain, a sci-fi movie should not merely be a depiction of an imagined futuristic world but should also reflect the threats faced by contemporary society.

With his passion for the genre, Wang decided to produce The Secret of Immortal Code in 2014, a sci-fi horror movie conceived by China Film Group Corp, the largest studio in the country.

Headlined by award-winning actress Liang Jing and veteran actor Zhao Lixin, the movie directed by Li Wei and Zhang Nan is due to be released across the Chinese mainland on June 22.

Most of the sequences in the movie were shot in black and white, in an experimental move to evoke a dystopian atmosphere.