Mr Bean makes a movie comeback

Rowan Atkinson stars in a Chinese comedy

Mr Bean is making his movie comeback – in a Chinese film.

Rowan Atkinson has brought back the hapless character for Top Funny Comedian: The Movie, an adaptation of a popular Chinese reality show.

The size of Atkinson’s role is unclear but he features prominently on the poster and in the trailer, taking selfies of himself, alongside former world champion boxer Evander Holyfield.

Bean is an iconic figure in China. Atkinson shot a Snickers commercial there in character in 2014 and his 2007 film Mr Bean's Holiday took more than $3million in the country.

Top Funny Comedian: The Movie follows the film's stars, Chinese comedians Guo Degang and Yue Yunpeng, on an adventure from Beijing to Macao.

Mr Bean China At a promotional event in Beijing last week, Guo, who speaks little English, said he principally communicated with Atkinson through body language during the shooting.

'Just with facial expressions and gestures we seemed to understand each other,' Guo said. 'It was really an interesting experience, which proves that comedy can cross boundaries.'

Atkinson didn't attend the event but sent greetings in Mandarin over video link.

His last screen appearance as Bean was for Comic Relief last year, in which he attended a funeral. Since the television series ended in 1995, he has made two films, a cartoon spin-off, music videos and appeared in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, as well as spoofing martial arts films for the Snickers adverts.

Despite his occasional appearances as Bean, he had appeared to rule out a more substantial comeback as the character.

In 2011, he said: ‘I’ve always regarded Mr Bean as an ageless, timeless figure. I don't want him to particularly grow old, and if I carry on playing him then he's going to get older, whether we like it or not. I would like to remember Mr Bean how he was five or ten years ago.’