MUMBAI: Pixar‘s Monster‘s University, a sequel to the 2001 Monster Inc. is slated to release in China as the curtain raiser of the Shanghai International Film Festival on June 15.

The 3-D animation comedy will release in the Chinese version with Xu Zheng voicing the protagonist blue haired monster Sulley and He Jiong, voicing the single eyed green monster Mike.

The Lost in Thailand director-star Xu Zheng‘s roped in by He Jiong has gained immense popularity in the country with his prestige and reputation as the man behind the highest-grossing domestic release in China. The comedy raked in $203.9 million (1.25 billion yuan) during its three-month run at the box office from December 2012 to February 2013 as stated by Hollywood Reporter.

The actor-singer He Jiong has too achieved fame for his 10-year stint as host of Happy Family, one of the most popular TV variety shows in the country. The premier of Monster University is a move by the American animator Pixar to push the movie in China. A collection of the animation studio‘s previous short films will also be shown during the festival.

Pixar has yet to announce Monsters University‘s release date in the country. The film is imported into China as one of the 34 "shared-revenue” films allowed into the country every year.

The animated comic movie is slated to premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on June 8, followed by screenings at the Sydney (June 10) and Los Angeles (June 18) festivals before its opening wide screening in the U.S. on June 21, a week after Warner Bros‘ Man of Steel is slated to release.