[Photo provided to China Daily]

In the movie, the legendary Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin leads only a dozen ships that remained in his command to a miraculous win against more than 300 Japanese vessels. In an attempt to push his side to beat the enemy with a fight-unto-death determination, Yi burns off all the camps on the eve of the big battle at sea.

Several golden rules from the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu (BC 545-470), such as "confront a person with the danger of death and he will fight to live", are widely used in scenes.

Some Chinese who may have seen the movie online earlier commented that it "touched" them on sites such as mtime.com.

"The feeling is universal. The biggest selling point of Roaring Currents is the ethnic emotions," Tian says. "China neighbors South Korea, and our countries have close connections in history and culture. The patriotism and ancient Chinese military strategies make Chinese moviegoers feel close to the movie," Tian says.

He believes the premiere date was changed to allow the movie to make a good profit.

Chinese director Gao Qunshu says he is impressed by the 61-minute sea battle.

"It's really surprising to know that the lead actors' pay cost only 10 percent of the entire budget, which means the director can use most of the money for constructing sets and on special effects," he says, "South Korean filmmakers have a good combination of Hollywood-standardized workflow and the market. We can learn from that."

The film starring Choi Min-sik became the highest-grossing movie of all time in South Korea, by hitting an unprecedented record of 17 million admissions and a box-office revenue of more than $120 million.