Ne Zha/Ne Zha 2 (Potential Spoilers)

[Pooky]

We should probably have a thread for these right?





I probably don't need to explain what these are at this point, but Ne Zha is the 2009 CG animated film from China and based on Chinese folklore/mythology. It made $742.7 million, mostly in China, which ordinarily be incredibly impressive, but Ne Zha 2 has recently become the highest grossing animated film of all time.

I watched Ne Zha at the end of last week. I had some reservations but there was a lot I really liked about it. I'm booked in to see Ne Zha 2 tomorrow evening. At the time I booked I was one of three attendees so it's seems unlikely it's going to have quite the same impact here as it did in China, but I'm looking forward to it all the same.

 

[Pooky]

Well Ne Zha 2 was fun, and a big step up in scope from the first in terms of scale and animation. There wasn't a huge crowd like it's drawing in China or elsewhere, but there was a bit of an audience. There are a lot of International students from China at my city's local university, and a few of them seemed to be in the audience, it was interesting to hear that they seemed to "get" certain jokes in a way I didn't.

My only complaint would be

Spoiler

the ending was more a tease for a third film than it was a true ending

; it's a very refreshing experience in a lot of ways, but that's one way I wish this were a little *more* distinct from modern Hollywood Blockbusters.

I'm not sure if a theoretical (and I'm guessing now very likely) Ne Zha 3 will be quite as much fun if it's going to have

Spoiler

a fully formed/adult Ne Zha for the entire duration

, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[LinusFan303]

The first movie is free and legal to watch on Youtube since that one is a little important to understand the 2nd one.

The 2nd one is pretty good, I think a little long, but it does a great job at doing the things the first one did then a total shift to some dark stuff. The animation you can tell they went hard for their action scenes when the rest wouldn't be out of place in a Dreamworks or Pixar movie. They blended it well. Good movie.

 

[LinusFan303]

It's getting an English dub

Michelle Yeoh To Voice English-Language Version Of Chinese Animation Blockbuster ‘Ne Zha 2’ From A24 & CMC

Michelle Yeoh Set For Voice Cast Of English-Language Version Of Chinese Animation Blockbuster ‘Ne Zha 2’ From A24 & CMC

deadline.com

 

[SpecialColorfull]

Is she pulling a Son Goku thing where she voices Ne Zha because he is a boy?

 

[wonderfly]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"The Highest-Grossing Animated Movie In The World Is One You May Never Have Heard Of"​

"Off the top of your head, name the current highest-grossing animated movie in history. Toy Story? Nope. The original Snow White? Not even close. The current crown is worn by Ne Zha 2, a Chinese film that released just this year and generated all that bread within its home country alone — $1.9 billion when converted to US dollars.

In fact, Ne Zha 2 is now not just the most profitable cartoon film in the world, but also the fifth highest-grossing film in history period, and the highest-rated animated film of the year on Rotten Tomatoes. It hasn’t even opened globally yet! The Bad Guys 2 is gonna have to be pretty amazing to top all that.

Now it’s coming to the US and other territories, thanks to a partnership between A24 and CMC Pictures. Ne Zha 2 will be released here, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on August 22, with an English dub starring Michelle Yeoh (other cast members have not been revealed, nor does anyone know who Yeoh is playing)."

Read the full article here.

 

[PicardMan]

Wonder how this will do on the US big screen considering anime's performance. As with anime, the movie already made way back its budget in Asia, so even a $1 million dollar gross is probably a profit. What is considered a "success" terms of anime film US box office grosses is often abysmal by Pixar/Dreamworks standards. It seems like more action oriented animation usually struggles at the box office in comparison to pure comedy based on what happened to Transformers One. Probably won't gross $100 million in the US, but it will probably be a cult classic.

Cool it's getting a dub with major movie star Michelle Yeoh (I forgive her for Star Trek: Section 31). Seems like donghua's making headways with To Be Hero X and Lord of Mysteries being on Crunchyroll.

 

[LinusFan303]

Here's the English trailer for it , coming out on August 22

 

[harry580]

I wonder if theres a English dub of the first one

 

[Corwin Haught]

I wonder if theres a English dub of the first one

It was released on home video by Well Go USA Entertainment and is currently on Peacock as well as Tubi.

 

[wonderfly]

The News Team's slai has a new review up on the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com:

"Review: “Ne Zha 2”: Chinese Mythology Comes To Life"​

"Ne Zha 2 is THE highest grossing movie of all time, earning $2.2 billion at the box office so far, but sadly, the English dub didn’t fare well here despite its initial subtitled release back earlier this year, which I never even heard about at all thanks to poor advertising.

The first thing you see from the title of the movie is that it’s the second movie in the franchise. What happened to the first movie, and why wasn’t it shown in movie theaters like this movie? On a personal note, I myself still need to watch the first movie. My parents tried to watch the first movie, but they were bored instantly and fell asleep trying to watch it. I went into the movie theater with zero knowledge from the first movie, but surprisingly, that wasn’t a deterrent from watching and enjoying the second movie!

The movie is based on Nezha, a protection deity in Chinese folklore from the 16th century novel, Investiture of the Gods. The story starts where the first movie leaves off with Ne Zha and his friend, Ao Bing, a dragon in human form, as disembodied spirits, having both sacrificed themselves to save Ne Zha’s village. Ne Zha and Ao Bing are both reincarnations of the Chaos Pearl split into two: the Demon Orb and the Spirit Pearl or yin and yang. Despite their polar opposite natures, they somehow became friends in the first movie. Sadly, without the first movie, they try to explain all of this in the first 5 minutes of the second movie, very rapidly."

Read the full review here.

 

[Space Cadet]

Yeah, I read an opinion article about this in the Washington Post that talked about the failure of the English dub at the box office and basically, they think the movie didn't do well due to the differences in the storytelling between Chinese stories and Western stories. Western stories tend to like linear narratives with clearly defined characters while Chinese stories tend to jump from plot-to-plot. But that's ok, there's no right or wrong way to tell a story.

 

[Pooky]

IMO it was kind of old news by the time the Dub came out. Maybe you personally didn't hear about it, but the sub release did make it into the Top 5 of the US Box Office in mid-February and ultimately grossed $20million (great for a subtitled film), and there had been quite a few stories about the film making record breaking amounts of money in China. Maybe if it had come out in March it might have done better.

 

[PicardMan]

Compared to the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle US box office, Ne Zha isn't looking so hot, but US audiences have a lot more experience with anime than donghua. At least it looks like the Best Animated Feature Oscar is probably going to be a three way battle between Asian/Asian inspired movies KPop Demon Hunters, Demon Slayer Infinity Castle, and Ne Zha 2 (or Elio wins, which would bring the wrath of fans of the former three titles). I wonder when Ne Zha 2 is coming to streaming?

 

[Space Cadet]

IMO it was kind of old news by the time the Dub came out. Maybe you personally didn't hear about it, but the sub release did make it into the Top 5 of the US Box Office in mid-February and ultimately grossed $20million (great for a subtitled film), and there had been quite a few stories about the film making record breaking amounts of money in China. Maybe if it had come out in March it might have done better.

The article I read did mention the subtitled release back in February and the amount it made but sort of dismissed it.

 

[LinusFan303]

Both movies are coming HBO Max
the first one is coming December 1 and 2nd is coming December 20

What’s New On HBO Max This December

Download Images and Press Release Word Document HERE FEATURED PROGRAMMING Specials Debuts December 12 at 9:00 p.m. ETHBO Original Comedy SpecialSARAH

press.wbd.com