The Sino-UK documentary Earth: One Amazing Day features 38 wild species from 22 countries. [Photo provided to China Daily]

With the film (in Mandarin) ready to debut in China on Friday, the country will become the earliest market for the theater release of the documentary.

It may hit the United States or Britain in the fall, but the dates have yet to be confirmed, according to the producers.

McDonogh says the success of Disney's nature film Born in China has shown that "China has an appetite for this type of natural history films".

Directed by Lu Chuan, Born in China earned more than 60 million yuan ($8.9 million) last year, making it the highest-grossing documentary in China.

Fan echoes the view, saying he hopes more such quality works will encourage investors to produce documentaries, a longtime underestimated genre in the Chinese movie industry.

"Documentaries can be entertaining even though they get content from real life," says Fan.