Monkey King Movies in Order & How Many Are There?
The Monkey King franchise is made of multiple Hong Kong-Chinese action-fantasy movies. In this article, we will let you know exactly how many movies are there, what is the best way to watch Monkey King movies in order, what are they about, and can we expect more of them in the future.
Monkey King movies are based on episodes from Journey to the West, a 16th-century Chinese literary classic written in the Ming Dynasty by Wu Cheng’en.
Let’s now check out exactly how many Monkey King movies are there.
How many Monkey King movies are there?
There are currently twelve Monkey King movies. We won’t be only putting the movies with Monkey King in the title, we will also add other movies that include Sun Wukong, or are about him. Now let’s see what they look like in order by the release date.
- The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
- Journey to the West: Conquering Demons (2013)
- The Monkey King (2014)
- The Monkey King Havoc in Heavens Palace (2014)
- Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2015)
- The Monkey King 2 (2016)
- Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017)
- Wu Kong (2017)
- The Monkey King 3: Kingdom of Women (2018)
- The Monkey King: The Volcano (2019)
- Nezha Reborn (2021)
- The Monkey King: The Legend Begins (2022)
Now, we will let you know what is the best way to watch Monkey King movies in order and what are they about.
Monkey King movies in order
There are a lot of Monkey King movies and not all are connected, or actually any good. So, we will sort only the ones we think you should be watching in order, other movies you can watch if you really want to, but we would advise against it.
Also, some of the movies on the list above are not really about Sun Wukong, but actually only mention him, or are about his legacy, and those movies we won’t be sorting in this Monkey King order. Still, you can watch them if you want.
Check out the Monkey King movies that need to be watched in the order below.
Journey to the West: Conquering Demons (2013)
Tang Sanzang, an aspiring Buddhist hero tries to protect a village from three demons. He develops complex feelings for Miss Duan, the demon hunter who repeatedly helps him, and finally quests to meet the legendary Monkey King.
Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (2017)
Tang Monk brings three disciples on a journey to the West. On the outside, everything seems harmonious. However, tension is present beneath the surface, and their hearts and minds are not in agreement.
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After a series of demon-capturing events, the monk and his disciples gain a mutual understanding of each others’ hardships and unease. Finally, they resolve their inner conflict and work together to become an all-conquering, demon-exorcising team.
The Monkey King (2014)
A monkey born from heavenly stone acquires supernatural powers and must battle the armies of both gods and demons to find his place in the heavens.
The Monkey King 2 (2016)
When a traveling monk is stranded in a wasteland, The Monkey King must escort him across the land to retrieve sacred scriptures and protect him from an evil demon.
The Monkey King 3: Kingdom of Women (2018)
Sun Wukong (Aaron Kwok), Tang Sanzang (Feng Shaofeng), Zhu Bajie (Xiao Shenyang) and Sha Wujing (Him Law) – inadvertently enter the Womanland of Western Liang, a nation populated by women raised to believe that men are fatally deceptive in matters of the heart.
Love nevertheless blossoms between Tang Sanzang and the Womanland’s young queen (Zhao Liying), even though her royal preceptor (Gigi Leung) is hell-bent on sentencing the men to death.
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As Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing search for a way out of this nation surrounded by a vast magical net, it soon transpires, conveniently, that romantic love is the only key to opening the gate. Will Tang Sanzang give up on his sacred mission and stay with the queen?
Nezha Reborn (2021)
Three thousand years after Nezha fought the sea, Li Yunxiang, a young motorbike rider in Donghai City, discovers that he is Nezha reborn. Before he has mastered his powers, his old enemies appear, and he must settle a 3,000-year-old grudge with the Dragon Clan.
Do you need to watch Monkey King movies in order?
The movies above should be watched in the order we have sorted them. That said, you can watch only two Journey to the West movies and/or three The Monkey King movies, as they are not connected. Still, Journey to the West movies take place before The Monkey King movies. Nezha Reborn is also a separate movie.
About the other movies mentioned in our by-release date part, as we said, they are either pretty bad movies, or just mention The Monkey King, or Sun Wukong in them, so are not really needed to be watched in any order but are standalone movies.
Will there be more Monkey King movies in the future?
There are currently no official announcements about the new Monkey King movies. Still, we believe we will be seeing more of them in the future, just for now, don’t know exactly when.
