During this year's Spring Festival movie season, "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" (hereinafter referred to as "Nezha 2") set the screen on fire, achieving great success in both box office revenue and audience reputation.
According to the official website of the National Film Special Fund Office, as of 22:00 on February 12, the box office of "Nezha 2" has exceeded 9.481 billion yuan. The film ranks first in the global single market, Chinese film history, and Chinese animation film box office, and the box office is about to exceed 10 billion yuan. The Chinese film audience satisfaction survey shows that the film's satisfaction is 87.3 points, making it the "most satisfying film" for the audience during the Spring Festival in the past two years.
The number of characters is three times that of the first part, there are nearly 2,000 special effects shots, which exceeds the total number of shots in the first part, the main creative team has more than 4,000 people, and nearly 140 Chinese animation companies appeared at the end of the film... Behind the success of "Nezha 2" is the creative team's "die-hard" attitude, and it is also a microcosm of the continuous rise of Chinese animated films.
Target
“We need to see where our limits are.”
Wang Changtian, the producer of "Nezha 2" and chairman of Light Media, still remembers his surprise and even astonishment when the screenwriter and director Jiaozi put the script in front of him for the first time.
"The scenes described in the script are unprecedented in terms of production scale and difficulty," said Wang Changtian. "The first question is whether we can do it and whether China's animation industry can do it. The second question is how much money we have to invest and how long it will take to do it."
"Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" (hereinafter referred to as "Nezha 1"), which was released in the summer of 2019, won the box office championship of Chinese animated films and the second place in the Chinese film market with a box office of more than 5 billion yuan. "Nezha 2" is the sequel to the first part, continuing the innovative expression of traditional Chinese mythology, telling the story of Nezha and Ao Bing reshaping their bodies, encountering many difficulties and facing new challenges in the process.
Nezha 2 creates a more grandiose worldview than the first one. From the complexity of the content, the relationship between Ao Bing and Nezha, the relationship between Taiyi Zhenren and Yuanshi Tianzun, and the story of Shen Gongbao's family and the East China Sea Dragon King's family... all these make the story fuller.
The number of characters in Nezha 2 is three times that of the first film, and all the characters in the film have very rich biographies and stories behind them. "I care about every character. I established this view at the beginning of the creation. To break the stereotype, each character must be very vivid, with his own life, story and journey." Jiaozi said, "Our initial goal is to try to set goals that we cannot achieve. Set a high goal first, and then work hard to achieve it."
The five-year creation process began. "Every work should be created as if it were your last." This sentence of Jiaozi became the motto of the main creative team as they polished their work. Everyone tried their best and broke through their limits.
Wang Changtian broke his promises several times about the release date of Nezha 2, and the outside world had doubts about the project, but the creative progress was not accelerated. "These are not important. Let the director create at his own pace and don't force it," Wang Changtian said.
The deadline was extended by a year and a half, and a large number of additional manpower was added. Wang Changtian admitted that trust comes from his understanding of the director. "Jiaozi is a very demanding director. His pressure first comes from the standards and requirements he sets for himself. He has a wide range of interests and understands the audience's needs for animated films. He can incorporate what he has realized or seen in life into his works, such as the unique sense of humor of Sichuan people."
In response to this, Jiaozi said: "We need to see where our limits are. This is also where the imagination of animation lies. We must show the audience something they have never seen before, otherwise there will be no freshness."
Die Hard
“Only when you respect the audience will the audience respect you”
The production of Nezha 2 brought together nearly 140 animation companies and more than 4,000 staff members. The creators involved said: "Chinese animators came from all over the country as soon as they heard the call, just like participating in the Olympics of the animation industry."
"So many outstanding domestic animation talents choose to join, firstly because of their passion and hope to see good works emerge, and secondly because the 'Nezha' IP has been widely recognized. They are willing to devote their time and energy to this work. For animators, this is a very passionate and happy thing." said the film's producer Liu Wen Zhang.
"The director's attitude towards creation is focused and pure, and our partners and colleagues also recognize this." Liu Wenjian recalled, "In this process, he would set many goals for himself, and then overcome them one by one, bit by bit."
Throughout the creative process, the team first had to solve the problem of creativity. Liu Wenjian said: "For this reason, we spent a lot of time on effect research and development: it had to be beautiful, meet the needs of the play, and solve the difficulty of production. There was no reference for many shots, so we had to polish them ourselves. This is a necessary process for innovation, and of course the cycle will be extended. Once the effect is determined, we will produce content and solve technical problems."
Jiaozi believes that good works must be polished and time cannot be saved. "Originally, I had a range in mind, maybe it would take about three years to complete, but after that, I couldn't stop. Everyone hopes to keep improving and do their work to the extreme."
Jiaozi participated in the creation of Nezha 2 throughout the entire process - he independently completed the script, formulated and confirmed all creative plans, reviewed each phase of the effect, directed and participated in dubbing, and proposed film music ideas...
Jiaozi said that in order to ensure the accuracy of the characters and the complete details of the scenes, he performed more than 70% of the scenes in the film himself. After the director's interpretation, the animators can capture the layering of the performance more accurately.
In the film, Wuliang Xianweng frowned after drinking the nectar. This action seems ordinary, but it actually increases the tense atmosphere and makes the audience mistakenly think that Wuliang Xianweng has tasted the flaw. The inspiration for this detail comes from Jiaozi's performance. The introduction of Jiaozi was straightforward at the beginning, without any sense of humor. Wuliang Xianweng was teased without knowing it. Such details not only make the audience laugh, but also are logically self-consistent, making the character more colorful.
The Dong ethnic group's big song, suona, humi, big three-stringed instrument, and xun... a variety of national musical instruments add color to the film's soundtrack. Original music composer Yang Rui said: "The Dong ethnic group's big song comes from life and nature, and can imitate the sounds of cicadas and squirrels. It is both bright and restrained." The movie character song "It's Nezha" was recorded more than 600 times. The songwriter Tang Hanxiao believes that "the combination of folk music and Chinese comics has a strong chemical reaction. The imagination and freehand style of Chinese comics can give folk music new development space."
The film's visual effects won praise from the audience. Many industry insiders said that the film's special effects level not only represents the highest level of special effects in Chinese animated films, but can even be compared with the world's first-class level.
Talking about the creative purpose of the film's visual effects, executive producer Liu Pan said: "It must be both realistic and formally beautiful. At the same time, these special effects settings must be creative and innovative, and most importantly, meet the requirements of the story."
Liu Pan introduced that the "torrent battle" at the end of the film was grand, with hundreds of millions of people, and everyone's expressions and movements were different, some waving battle flags, some holding weapons to attack... This visual effect alone took about a year and a half. The two lumps of lotus root powder representing Nezha and Ao Bing at the beginning of the film had to conform to the laws of mechanics and achieve "both tangible and intangible" in terms of artistic modeling, and the visual effect production cycle also lasted for half a year.
In the scene where the sea monsters attacked Chentangguan, the tens of thousands of sea monsters suppressed by the monster-locking formation had to wear chains, which seemed to be an almost impossible task to the visual effects team. The team had a disagreement with Jiaozi for a while. In order to solve the problem, executive producer Chen Changjiang called the higher-level department of the crew to try to persuade Jiaozi, but the final result was: do it!
Jiaozi said: "Movies are not made for directors, but for audiences. Only if you respect the audience will they respect you."
Wang Changtian believes that, in a sense, Director Jiaozi represents the inevitable figure that will emerge in the development of Chinese films today, and the success of "Nezha 2" is also an inevitable phenomenon. "When an industry has enough market space and enough opportunities to display personal talents, it will attract many outstanding talents."
promote
“The audience has always been with us, and we are growing together”
Five years ago, "Nezha 1" proved the strength of Chinese animated films with its reputation, and the "Nezha" series became an important IP of Chinese animated films.
"For five years, the audience has been interacting with us. This makes us feel that the audience has always been with us and we are growing together," said Liu Wen Zhang.
There are three pairs of father-son relationships in Nezha 2: Li Jing and Nezha, Ao Guang and Ao Bing, and Shen Zhengdao, Shen Gongbao, and Shen Xiaobao. The three pairs of relationships seem to be about the father-son relationship, but they present three different aspects, which greatly enhances the emotional expression. "The emotional angles of the film include father-son relationship, mother-son relationship, brotherly relationship, master-disciple relationship, etc. Each emotion is expressed by multiple groups of character relationships." Wang Changtian said that this setting can radiate a larger audience.
In order to resonate with audiences of different ages, the film comprehensively polished the relationship between the characters and enhanced the audience's empathy from different levels. Young people like the film's theme of individuality and cool visual effects, middle-aged people will empathize with Shen Gongbao's emotional separation, and the elderly may resonate with Ao Guang and Li Jing.
Based on traditional story materials and current content innovation, "Nezha 2" also meets the audience's demand for modern expression of traditional themes.
Jiaozi believes: "Traditional IP can be passed down for so long, there must be a reason and value for its existence. We extract its value, combine it with the current spirit of the times, and recreate a story that everyone truly believes in, hoping to reflect a sense of the times."
At present, the number of viewers of "Nezha 2" has reached nearly 200 million, and many viewers have watched it twice or three times, saying that they can't get enough. Some viewers were attracted by its popularity and went to the cinema for the first time. "Nezha 2 has brought some audiences who originally didn't go to the cinema into the cinema. Compared with the box office, I think the number of viewers is much more important. This is the foundation for Chinese films to have a 'big stage' in the future." Wang Changtian said.
"I've watched it many times, and every time I find some clever ideas and am surprised by the director." Wang Changtian gave an example, saying that the director set up a lot of foreshadowing, some of which might be just a look or a small action, leaving clues for the development of the plot. "This is also the reason why many viewers will watch it repeatedly, and there are new discoveries every time."
"I believe this success will be a great inspiration for film creation - there is no bad market, only bad products." Wang Changtian said that the success of "Nezha 2" is a victory of adhering to "long-termism". "It has been 12 years since we first started making animations, and the direct investment has reached 2.5 billion yuan. This is a process of continuous accumulation, perseverance and challenge. For creators, they must respect and understand the audience, respect the laws of creation and the market, and meet the needs of as many audiences as possible, rather than being blinded by short-term interests."
Expectations
“There is never a real new height, only better”
"Nezha 2" will be officially released in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and other countries in the near future. It is one of the Chinese films with the highest pre-release attention to date.
A few years ago, domestic animated films quietly rose to prominence. From "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" to "Big Fish and Begonia", from "Jiang Ziya" to "Deep Sea" and "30,000 Miles from Chang'an", a batch of high-quality animated films showed the overall progress of domestic films.
"Generally speaking, the production standards of Chinese animated films are in a relatively leading position internationally. Of course, it is not stable enough. Stable means that there will be works coming out every year, and more than one, and they are maintained at a relatively high level. This cannot be achieved now," said Wang Changtian.
It is worth mentioning that China's 3D animation technology and production capabilities are already in the leading position internationally. There are some difficult visual effects shots in "Nezha 2" that did not meet expectations after being produced by top foreign studios, and were eventually completed by domestic teams. "The style and techniques of foreign production may not be suitable for our content and aesthetics, and they are not as obsessed with details as we are," said Wang Changtian.
However, the rise of domestic animated films still faces some challenges. "In the long run, to maintain or improve production capabilities, animation companies need to have a better life, investors need to gain, and the lives and salaries of practitioners need to be improved," said Wang Changtian.
To improve this situation, relevant national departments have introduced a number of policy measures to support the development of animated films in recent years. In November 2021, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Chinese Films", which clearly stated, "Support the creation and production of excellent animated films: support animated films that highlight the spirit of the Chinese nation and oriental aesthetics, better meet the viewing needs of the audience, especially young people, and educate and guide young people to improve their aesthetic level and establish cultural confidence."
Wang Changtian said that in the past two years, governments at all levels have given a lot of support to animation and issued many policies, including allowing animation companies to become high-tech enterprises, establishing animation production bases, and providing subsidies for animation projects. "To solve the problems in the animation film industry, there must be enough good works, relying on the power of the market to drive the growth of companies and improve the treatment of employees."
Faced with the current situation of the development of domestic animated films, director Jiaozi remains sober: "We can only try our best to do our best. There will never be a real new height, only better."
"No matter from the perspective of content, form of expression, or values, animated films have greater international communication advantages than live-action films." Wang Changtian is full of expectations for Chinese animated films to "go global" and hopes that Chinese animated films represented by "Nezha 2" can take on the responsibility of spreading Chinese culture overseas like products such as "Black Myth: Wukong".
Jiaozi also believes: "One day, Chinese animated films will have some new things, new connotations, and new souls, and the whole world will be able to appreciate them."
(Intern Ma Zexiang participated in the interview and writing)
【Link 】
“I give it full marks!”
"Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" holds premiere in Sydney and other places
The Chinese animated film "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" held its premiere at the IMAX Cinema in Sydney, Australia on the 11th, attracting more than 300 people from the cultural circles, film and television industry practitioners, and fans from China and Australia. The film will be officially released in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and other places on the 13th.
"I give it full marks!" Sydney local actor Warren praised the film, "The animation quality is first-class." Australian TV host Chris Raimi said that from the production point of view, all the characters and scenes in the film are very realistic, making people feel immersive, "Chinese cartoons are amazing!" Next, he plans to "watch movies like crazy".
It is understood that "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" will be screened in Sydney in advance from the 10th. Due to the high enthusiasm of the audience, almost all the screenings were full, and Sydney cinemas have begun to significantly increase the number of screenings.
The Chinese animated film "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" held its North American premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, the United States on the 8th, attracting hundreds of fans and some film industry professionals from China and the United States. The film will be released in North American theaters on the 14th.
Hollywood producer Robert King said that "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" is a blockbuster-level animation that has attracted many audiences. He hopes that more Chinese films will be seen by North American audiences in the future.
American children, Senna Johnson and her brother Kai Johnson, attended the premiere with their parents. The two watched the previous film "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" in 2019. They said that they were deeply impressed by the Chinese mythological boy character portrayed in the movie and hoped to see more Chinese films in the future.
(Reported by Xinhua News Agency reporters Liang Youchang, Zhang Shuhui and Gao Shan)
【New words】
Why domestic animation has reached a "boiling moment"
Chen Yuanyuan
“If there is no road ahead, I will make one!” The lines from “Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King” not only ignited the audience’s enthusiasm, but also reflected the determination of Chinese animated films to break the shackles.
People are amazed at the energy of this young hero riding on a wind-fire wheel and wearing a Hun Tian Ling: he tops the Chinese box office, the number of moviegoers, and the single-market box office in the history of global films. It is no coincidence that the film has "broken the ceiling" one after another. The film's popularity has once again proved that the harmony of profound cultural genes and modern social values can release huge cultural energy and market potential.
Cultural energy comes from the profound historical context. Nezha Conquers the Dragon King is a classic myth. From the classic animation Nezha Conquers the Dragon King produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio in the late 1970s to the current Nezha the Devil Boy series of films, the works contain common human emotions and values such as wisdom and courage, right and wrong, good and evil, and the oriental aesthetics and magnificent imagination, which are the key to endless and touching people's hearts. When the audience walks into the cinema, they encounter the cute "boundary beast" based on the bronze ware of Sanxingdui, and feel the "willows swaying" when Mrs. Yin bids farewell to Nezha, which generates a natural sense of closeness and internalizes into a deep cultural self-confidence.
Only by deeply exploring the contemporary values and spiritual power contained in the excellent traditional Chinese culture can literary and artistic works have a deeper cultural heritage and have a more far-reaching influence. "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" combines national style and youthful expression, "30,000 Miles in Chang'an" evokes cultural resonance with heroic poetry, and "Deep Sea" expands the creative boundaries of ink-and-wash animation... Looking at the rise and development of domestic animation, the aesthetic taste and innovative perspectives are different, and the excellent traditional Chinese culture has always been a fertile ground for creation.
The market potential is released faster with the development of the industry. Every link in the cultural industry chain needs to have the original ability to match it. The birth of a high-quality animation work involves hundreds of animation production companies, and requires the collaboration of multiple trades such as editing, directing, visual effects, sound, and distribution. The long-term technical accumulation, the patient carving of "polishing a few seconds of footage for a year", and the ingenuity of not sparing time just to do one thing well are the underlying logic of high-quality content production. Slowness also achieves speed to a certain extent. In 2010, the total box office of Chinese films exceeded the 10 billion yuan mark for the first time. Only more than a month has passed in 2025, and a film has set a record of nearly 10 billion yuan in box office. The market will give an exciting response to the polishing of fine products in accordance with the laws of cultural production, creation and dissemination.
It's not just Nezha. From the emergence of a "monkey" in the gaming industry to the global attention paid to the application of artificial intelligence, today's innovation ecology has frequently ushered in "boiling moments". Only by isomorphic and symbiotic with the values of the times and resonating with the young groups can scientific and technological cultural and creative products surge with fresh vitality. Telling a good story of innovation is inseparable from young and active creators and practitioners. Nezha in the movie resonates and empathizes with young people in real society across time and space. After watching the movie, many viewers went straight to the figure shop to buy peripherals, and netizens urged Shen Gongbao, Shiji Niangniang and other IP peripherals to replenish stocks online. Good works should bring spiritual strength to the audience, trigger thinking about values, and then inspire people to have a high degree of recognition and emotional resonance with cultural subjectivity at a deeper level.
Movies are cultural products with national characteristics and an internationally accepted audio-visual language. High-quality animated films are becoming a "high-value" business card for Chinese culture to go global. The popularity of Nezha has brought us inspiration: only by focusing on traditional heritage, shaping voices with innovative expressions, and resonating with high-quality content can new popular literature and art tell Chinese stories more energetically. We look forward to more domestic animations demonstrating cultural confidence and innovative expressions, and continuing to surprise us.
