[Photo provided to China Daily]

In a previous interview I conducted with him in late 2013, Kong revealed that his "proudest film" was one that actually lost money for him. Ocean Heaven is about autism and it touched a nerve with families of patients, reinforcing Kong's belief that a filmmaker should have an innate social responsibility.

"Of course, I'd have to make movies that are profitable to sustain our operation," he adds when I bring up the topic again.

"Every movie has its own destiny," he likes to say. "When it should open, to what kind of competition and to what changing audience tastes－so many factors are beyond our control."

Every filmmaker has his or her share of duds, but according to a recent online article, Kong has the fewest bad movies under his belt, and possibly the highest ratio of winners.

Monster Hunt, which surpassed Lost in Thailand on Sunday as the highest-grossing Chinese-language movie ever and overtook Avatar on Monday, has registered 1.5 billion yuan ($242 million) in total by July 28.

Kong says he knew only that it must open at a season when kids have free time, since this is a family-friendly tale, and July 16 was the earliest summer date he could obtain.