The Chinese animation of the Nekha 2 blockbuster was released at the end of January, along with several other films for the holidays of the Spring Festival.
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Beijing – For someone who has lived in China since Pandemia, the success of the animated movie “No ZHA 2” indicates more turning point in the industry than a surprise.
The permanent drums of domestic animation were picked up in 2023, just after the end of the Coid-19 limit, with popular editions such as “Chang A” by the entertaining collection of the life of the Chinese poet Li Baia from the perspective of their friend. He entered around that $ 250 million As the only animated film in the best Chinese 10 films for the year, according to the Box Office from Maoyan.
The team that stands behind “Chang an”, the animation of the Light Chaser, operates mainly from the old white building in the dormant Perippers of Beijing. The ceilings are high; The stairs wind through the building to connect more floors and rooms – and the gym.
When I visited this week, some animators – working on their computers in the dark – were racing to finish the cinematic effects of lighting on scenes for this summer movie. Others designed historical Chinese dresses, detailed eyebrows and re -created buildings.
“This place is no longer big enough,” said Yu Zhou, president of the study in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.
He said that a company with 380 people in the next year had to hire at least 100 people in order to step up with their new production plan: two film editions a year starting at 2026, already over a year. Ai, he said, can only be a tool for now. Light Chaser plans to move to a new office in the second half of this year.
The Light Chaser Animation, based in Beijing, had more than 380 employees since February 2025.
The studio adheres to the three -year production plan for all the films they are making at the same time. He tries to imagine the future and whether 20 to 30 million people will watch it when the movie comes out, Yu said. “Will this story succeed in three years?”
This movie is scheduled for this summer, “Curious Stories of the Temple”, “Re -written” Chinese Spirit Stories, “Yu said. Studio is in an interview with” Hollywood mainstream Players “to publish cinemas abroad, including north America, at the same time as the planned launch of China, he said.
Alluding to the law appeal among the global audience, Yu claimed that the “Green Snake” light chasera- which is a display of Chinese legend, is partially setting up in a futuristic city- he managed well on Netflix after launching 2021, staying in the top 10 non-none-none English content for three weeks.
Among other animated features in the works, a video company iqiyi It develops a “master Zhong” that will be published in China this year. Ya Ning, a senior businessman of the company, said Chinese animation began to break its “childish” image and turns into an industry, spreading both film goods and games.
Recent history
Chinese animated films have just begun to make spray in the last 10 years.
“In the history of Chinese animation there is I have never been a movie like “Big Fish and Begonia. “… as far as the Chinese industry is concerned, this bold and beautiful fantastic adventure is alone,” wrote the magazine for the entertainment industry Variety after the 2016 movie was released.
The movie made Beijing Enlight Media. It is the same producer behind this year’s “NO ZHA 2” and “No ZHA 1” that came out in 2019 – that year he was at the top of the Chinese coffers.
“Deep Sea”, from Peking Octmedia Studio, praised in early 2023 with his fantastic pastel painted portrayal of traveling a young girl’s healing after leaving his mother.
Although popularity has not always turned into a cash register, “No ZHA 2” managed to succeed in partially succeeding because for CNBC he liked all ages, Liu Antiving, a manager at China in Chengdu. While Liu said he was proud of the achievements of the Chinese animation industry, he did not expect another “no ZHA 2” Blockbuster in the near future – at least not until “ZHA 3” came out in 2028.
“No ZHA 2” came out in China at the end of January as one of six films for a weekly spring festival vacation and took half the cash register for that period, Maoyan said. After being released in North America on February 14, Maoyan Data showed the movie Beat Pixar “Inside Out 2” as a top -notch animated movie around the world with more than $ 13 billion ($ 1.79 billion) at ticket sales.
Strategy and plans
Unlike a lightweight Chaser focus on internal production, “No ZHA 2” manufacturers relied on different studies. The director came from a Coco cartoon -based cartoon in Chengdu, while Beijing Enlight Media was the primary manufacturer and distributor. Chinese state media said it was almost 140 companies contributed to production.
State media also pointed out that government subsidies From Chengdu to Qingdao They helped support local animation. Beijing 2021 set up a national plan for “the construction of China in the main cinema player“By 2035, which included a call to create 50 films a year with sale at a box office at least 100 million yuan.
Jonathan Clements, author of “Anime: A History”, warned that excessive production of films can be uncomfortable shocking studies and investors. “Animation consumers are a resource to be carefully managed,” he said.
Clements added that unlike Disney Blockbusters, he earned more than $ 1 billion in cash register in several countries, “not ZHA 2” did so primarily because of the sale in China. “You don’t have to worry about whether your story or your characters or your views play in other countries.”
The Chinese plan also determined that domestic movies should explain At least 55% of the annual cash register in the country sales.
Hollywood films, when allowed in the cinema, saw the interest of the domestic audience disappearing. “Godzilla X Kong” was the only one who broke the first 10 last year, Maoyan reports. “Oppenheimer” failed to enter Chinese 20 top films in 2023, and “Barbie” was even behind.
Back in 2019, “Avengers: Endgame” took third place according to the home box office, according to Maoyan, just behind the Chinese science fantastic sensation “The Wearing Earth” and the first movie “No Zha”.
The characters and plot of many Chinese animated television series have arrived from stories written on the internet by relatively unknown authors. Chinese literatureThe main app operator for content generated by the user, said 15 of the best 20 most watched internet animated series In the first half of last year, they were based on the content on their platform – in recent years he also began to put up adjustments to YouTube as he tries to expand his audience.
Chinese creators also use a generative AI for film creation. Short Video Streaming Application Kuaishou She releases a seven -piece mini -series, “New World Load”, which has been largely created using Kling AI for a video generation company. Chen Xiangy director said the team just fed simple scripts of AI models instead of having to draw the characters.
