Huang Xiaoming (L) and Zhang Jingchu (R). [Photo:CFP]

The comedy film "Flirting Scholar 2", helmed by Hong Kong director Lee Lik-Chi and featuring actors Huang Xiaoming and Zhang Jingchu, will open on July 9th, Sina.com reports.

"Flirting Scholar 2" is actually a prequel to "Flirting Scholar" (1993). The original, also directed by Lee and starring Stephen Chow and Gong Li, was a love story based around the historical character Tang Buo Hu. Tang is known around China as the most famous member of a legendary group of four scholars during the Ming Dynasty with unmatched literary and artistic skills.

The two main characters in the 1993 film were Tang Yin (Stephen Chow) and his lover Qiu Xiang (Gong Li). Given that the original actors are now much too old to appear in a prequel, their characters have been taken over by Huang Xiaoming and Zhang Jingchu in "Flirting Scholar 2". Details of the prequel's story have yet to be released.

With an investment of 100 million yuan (US$15 million), Lee aims to beat the haul of Feng Xiaogang's comedy "If You Are the One" (2008), which earned 340 million yuan (US$50 million) at the box office.

"Flirting Scholar 2" will be shown in advance to audiences at the 13th Shanghai International Film Festival from June 12th to 20th.