Ice Fantasy

Drama Version

When the second prince of the fire tribe, Xin Jue (Jiang Chao), was mysteriously killed during his visit to the Ice Tribe for Ka Suo's coming-of-age ceremony, the Fire King Huo Yi (Hu Bing) finally has an excuse to start the second war between the Fire Tribe and Ice Tribe. With their parents captured and older siblings killed, the two remaining Ice Princes Ka Suo (Feng Shaofeng) and Ying Kong Shi (Ma Tianyu) escape to the mortal world and seek help from realm guardian Li Luo (Victoria Song) to help obtain ice crystals from six tribes.

After the Fire Tribe was defeated with the Deicide Sword, Ka Suo reluctantly battles his brother for the throne, but he wants nothing more than the freedom to be with his lover Li Luo. Ying Kong Shi does everything in his power to take the throne away from Ka Suo, while Yan Da (Zhang Meng), the Fire Princess, is willing to give up everything for Shi. Then, Ka Suo's loved ones all die off one by one under the conspiracies of Yuan Ji (Yan Yikuan) and Lian Ji (Kim Hee-sun), and he is determined to find the legendary "veiled lotus". A war between the Ice and Fire Tribe commences again, with Li Tian Jin joining the Fire Tribe to get his revenge on Ka Suo.

Novel version

The story is set a hundred years after a war between the Empire of Snow (Ice Tribe) and the Fire Tribe, where the Ice Tribe was defeated, leaving Prince Ka Suo and his younger half-brother Ying Kong Shi the only royal heirs and immortal ice illusionists left in the Ice Tribe. Conflict ensues after Ka Suo reluctantly ascends to the throne as his lover, Li Luo, and his brother go missing.

Ka Suo also accidentally discovers an evil presence lurking in the Ice Tribe's holy shrine. He and his companions enter the mysterious shrine, and defeated the head of the shrine, Yuan Ji, who was actually the mermaid concubine Lian Ji, only to find out that all the chaos was triggered by her. Ka Suo also experiences hardships in trying to find his lover and brother, not knowing that his brother has lost all of his memories and has become the Fire Prince under his mother's command. A war between the two tribes commences once again, with the two brothers pitted against each other.

Ice Tribe (冰族)

Immortal Beings of the Holy Ice Shrine (幻雪神山)

Fire Tribe (火族)

Mermaid Tribe (人魚族)

Spiritual Tribe (千靈族)

Eagle Tribe (鷹族)

Bear Tribe (熊族)

Guardians of the Realms (守界使者)

Dream Tribe (尋夢族)

Healer Tribe (神醫族)

Production

Guo Jing Ming's City of Fantasy sold over 1.5 million copies and ranked second in the bestseller's list. Since City of Fantasy's release in 2003, there have been plenty of early attempts to produce a movie adaption. However, the attempts failed, citing that the novel's fictional universe was too complicated and massive to condense into a movie. The idea of a possible drama adaption of City of Fantasy had been formed since November 2014.

During the Ice Fantasy press conference held in August 2015, Hong Kong screenwriter Shen Zhi Ning stated that the plot of the drama would have more stories, conflicts and background information compared to its book counterpart. The history of the tribes as well as the history of their world's creation had been incorporated into the plot. The fire nation's role in the story would also expand. On June 10, 2015, the creation of the script and preparations for filming were finished.

The Academy Award-winning Lord of the Rings set designer Dan Hennah was enlisted to design the sets for the production, which were inspired by the buildings, landscapes and other aspects of ancient China as well as other western cultures. One particular set, called the "Endless Sea", had been reported to be an area of 7,000 square meters, using 500 tons of artificial snow. It had also been reported that about 300 million yuan was invested for the drama's production, with 2 million yuan to create the main palace alone. Furthermore, more than 100 craftsmen were needed to make 6,000 props, with many used in large-scale battle scenes. Around 70 to 80 percent of post-production was centered around the special effects and CGI. Youhug stated: "This should be an unprecedented investment in a domestic drama, we also hope to achieve good visual effect as much as possible."

Guo Jing Ming acts as the artistic and visual director for the production. Other notable players in production include Dong Cheng Guang as art director, A Ju for make-up guidance, Zhong Jia Ni as costume and prop designer, and Ma Yu Cheng as choreographer. The international visual effects company Pixomondo was also enlisted. Shi Xiao Xi, the designer of the production's posters, is also a fan of the novel.

Casting

It was announced that Feng Shaofeng, Victoria Song, Ma Tianyu, and Zhang Meng would play the main characters, Ka Suo, Li Luo, Ying Kong Shi, and Yan Da. Supporting characters were later revealed through character posters that were posted on the drama's official Weibo account. Kris Wu was rumored to star as the main lead role. This was later proven false after the confirmation of the cast, although it was also confirmed that he will star in another of Guo Jing Ming's productions, L.O.R.D: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties, alongside Fan Bingbing.

This is Feng Shaofeng and Victoria Song's second production starring together, after the Chinese remake of My Best Friend's Wedding.

Shooting

On August 12, 2015, Hennah and director Ju Jue Liang, who is known for his martial arts films, brainstormed possible designs as well as visited a number of possible locations for filming. The drama was scheduled to shoot for six months, starting from August 16, 2015. Principal photography filming was held in Beijing, China, with location filming held in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. Filming finished in late February 2016, and the drama has entered post-production. Filming lasted 187 days.

Broadcast

The drama was released in the summer of July 24, 2016 on Hunan Satellite Television Diamond independent broadcast theater, with 62 episodes. Its distribution rights were also bought by Viki globally and jointly by the 7 Chinese video-sharing websites: Tencent, iQiyi, Youku, LeTV, Mango TV, Sohu and PPTV.