Shaun of the city

[Photo provided to China Daily]

The British directors spoke to China Daily on the sidelines of a media event on Tuesday, after which they left for a promotional tour of Shanghai, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province.

During the screening of a trailer in Beijing earlier this week, Burton knelt down on the floor to mimic a sheepdog.

"Sometimes we practiced the shots and rehearsed the shots. So when we animated, we could get the comic timing right," says Burton.

In an attempt to make the movie "fresh" as compared with the TV series, the feature isn't set on a farm but instead in a big city, just like "Beijing with lots of vehicles and people", says Burton.

When asked about their Chinese box-office expectations from Shaun the Sheep Movie, which has grossed $70 million globally to date, Starzak gives the figure "between zero and 1 billion yuan", displaying some British humor.

Among the few imported animated titles this summer, Shaun appears positioned for competition in China, where 18 homegrown animation movies are up for release through August across 2,000 cinemas on the mainland.

"Write a good story. I've talked quite a lot with some Chinese animators," Burton says. "The crucial element is the storytelling."