Monkey King back on screens this fall

Actor Han Geng and actress Tang Yan at a promotional event for the new film in Beijing.

They were released in cinemas on the mainland shortly after their Hong Kong debuts, but the screenings were soon suspended as they were seen as "non-serious" like some other Stephen Chow-style comedies. For most viewers, their first encounter with the films came through videotapes or television.

Xiao Tu, 28, a fan of the films and a Beijing-based freelancer, says: "I first watched the movies on China Central Television and was hooked by their humor.

"Now, after watching them repeatedly online, I can recite many parts of the dialogues."

Despite the films' box-office failures in the mainland all those years ago, it was not the end of the saga.

The fate of the films in the mainland was seen to have many hidden meanings and even triggered philosophical analyses following an article on a Tsinghua University forum in 1997.

This led to the films becoming popular among college students, and the popularity peaked around 2000.

Then, the films' dialogues became popular on the internet and they are still often quoted by people today in their daily conversations.

In 2014, the films were re-released in the mainland.

"I found them to be a lecture on love," says Xiao.