Space odyssey

One of the movie's top draws is that it reunites Shen Teng and Ma Li, two of Mahua's top comedian stars, respectively as Dugu and Ma Lanxing, the commander of the Lunar Shield project.

The reunion occurred seven years after Goodbye Mr Loser, a dark-horse blockbuster that raked in 1.44 billion yuan to become one of the highest-grossing Chinese movies in 2015. The smash hit has seen Shen and Ma join an elite of the country's most sought-after comedian stars.

Shen has accumulated a huge fan base as he can easily tickle the funny bone of his audience. But his intense schedule-with most of his working time occupied by several popular variety shows-has seen him appear in several films just as supporting characters.

His appearances in these movies are short, for example, five minutes in Never Say Die (2017), three minutes in Hello, Mrs Money (2018) and 10 minutes in Warm Hug (2022).However, the movies casting him all hooked lots of theatergoers, thanks to his popularity.