Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: New Gods: Nezha Reborn

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    New Gods: Nezha Reborn

    Netflix Picks Up Chinese Animated Feature ‘New Gods: Nezha Reborn’
    1:29 AM PST 2/17/2021 by Patrick Brzeski

    Courtesy of Netflix / Light Chaser Animation Studios
    'New Gods - Nezha Reborn'

    Produced by pioneering Beijing-based studio Light Chaser Animation, the film has earned $36 million since its premiere last weekend over China’s Lunar New Year holiday.
    Netflix has acquired worldwide streaming rights to Chinese animated film New Gods: Nezha Reborn, which opened theatrically in China last weekend at the start of the Lunar New Year holiday.

    The film is produced by pioneering Beijing-based studio Light Chaser Animation. The movie is based on the oft-adapted classical Chinese novel The Investiture of the Gods, but Light Chaser has given the material a vivid pop-culture spin in a bid to generate excitement among Chinese youth.

    Those efforts have yielded a modest success at China’s booming box office. Among the seven Chinese New Year titles that released last Friday, Nezha Reborn currently ranks fifth with $36.5 million in total sales, according to ticketing service Maoyan. But the movie has been a favorite among China's more discerning filmgoers. On the influential movie reviews site Douban, which tends to be a reliable barometer for film quality in China, Nezha Reborn ranks second best among the new releases, with a user reviews score of 7.4. It's trailing only the ascendent box-office champ Hi, Mom, which has a Douban score of 8.2 and total earnings of $403 million. The solid critical reception suggests strong legs for Nezha Reborn for the rest of the holiday and beyond.

    Nezha Reborn was created over a period of four years by the same creative team that produced Light Chaser’s 2019 hit White Snake, a co-production with Warner Bros. that earned $61.6 million in China. The new feature is directed by veteran animator Zhao Ji, who also co-directed White Snake. The voice cast includes Yang Tianxiang, Xuan Xiaoming, Ling Zhenhe, Zhu Ke’er and Li Shimeng.

    Netflix hasn’t been able to launch its service in China because of the Beijing government’s ban on foreign streaming platforms. But in recent years the company has acquired a number of major Chinese blockbusters — such as sci-fi hit The Wandering Earth and comic book adaptation Animal World — making them available to the Chinese diaspora audience around the world.

    A streaming release date for Nezha Reborn is yet to be revealed. The official summary for the film is as follows: "Set in a mythical world, Donghai City, a melting pot where gods and people from different cultures co-exist, Nezha is reborn as Li Yunxiang, a young daredevil, 3,000 years after the original Battle of the Gods. Yunxiang grows up as a cool regular boy, who earns his living as a delivery courier. His love for motor racing and adventure prevail even as he discovers his true identity as Nezha. Yunxiang encounters his mortal enemies, the Dragon Clan, who are now living as super wealthy businessmen, feared and revered in Donghai City. Boss De, the Dragon King of the East China Sea or The Patriarch of the Dragon Clan, vows to revitalise the Dragon Clan in the new world. He is accompanied in this film by his three sons, The Three Princes, who are intent on killing Nezha to avenge their clan. New Gods: Nezha Reborn tells the story of how Yunxiang discovers his true identity and valiantly battles the Dragon Clan, their masked assassin, and other enemies, to protect his friends and family in a tale of life and death."

    PATRICK BRZESKI

    patrick.brzeski@thr.com
    @thr


    Threads
    Year-of-the-Ox
    New Gods: Nezha Reborn
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Green Snake aka White Snake 2

    Jul 25, 2021 4:37pm PT
    China Box Office: Animated Film ‘Green Snake’ Worms Its Way to No. 1

    By Rebecca Davis


    "Green Snake," Light Chaser Animation
    “Green Snake,” the Chinese animated sequel to the folktale adaptation “White Snake,” slithered past propaganda films to the top of the box office this weekend with a $29.7 million debut, according to Maoyan figures.

    The platform currently predicts that “Green Snake” will go on to gross $77.5 million, which would make it more successful than its 2019 predecessor’s $61.6 million.

    The new sequel brought in $2.6 million from Imax screens in China, which accounted for 9.1% of its total weekend sales. That makes it Imax’s highest indexing local animated title of all time in China, beating the 2019 breakout hit “Ne Zha.”

    The film is the latest work from the ever-improving local animation studio Light Chaser, and once again employs a video game-like aesthetic to tell the constantly reprised fable dating back to the Tang dynasty. The tale recounts the story of two snakes who develop super powers after achieving immortality and become able to transform into women. They meet various trials after one of them falls happily in love with a mortal but shocks him when her snake identity is suddenly revealed.

    In second place this week was the patriotic pandemic film “Chinese Doctors.” It grossed a further $17.5 million to bring its cume up to $176 million of what Maoyan projects will be a $211 million total — very likely making it the most successful of the nationalistic films celebrating the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary this month.

    Local animated adventure “Agent Backhom: Kings Bear” came in third with a $4.77 million opening weekend. It was supposed to debut last February, but had its outing pushed back due to the pandemic. After over a year of build-up, it managed to shuffle in ahead of local comedy “The Day We Lit Up The Sky.” The later trailed behind with a $3.19 million second weekend.

    The new Shanghai-set youth drama “Top of the City,” which sees men donning knight’s armor to fight each other at the top of the city’s highest skyscraper in order to save a sick child, rose in its debut to lesser heights with a $1.5 million debut, hitting fifth place.

    It nonetheless beat the $1.18 million weekend for propaganda flick “1921.” The big-budget, star-studded spectacle has brought in only $74.6 million so far, with its appeal waning rather quickly despite receiving top billing and a massive promotional push from Chinese media. This week, the historical re-telling of the Communist party’s founding was only a smidge ahead of a local animation geared towards very young children, the name of which translates to “The Adventures of Qiao Tiger on Magic Island.” That film sprung into sixth with a $1.13 million three-day start.

    The Chinese box office has struggled through the usually brisk months of June and July in the absence of either local or foreign strong films. No other movies grossed more than than $1 million this week.
    Note that this is now part of the Light Chaser Universe, which also includes Nezha Reborn.

    threads
    White-Snake
    Green Snake aka White Snake 2
    New-Gods-Nezha-Reborn
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    First forum review

    I totally forgot to review this...

    Well that was a trip. It’s a post-apocalyptic steampunk take on ancient Chinese legends done in a videogame animation style. It’s got some visionary stuff for sure but it doesn’t take off until about a half hour in when things get deified. I enjoyed it thoroughly but I’m not confident it works unless you know the myths - Nezha is a very unique character that might not make sense to the naive viewer.

    It might help to watch Nezha first although that’s a different story by a different animation company. It covers the basic creation myth however and might give some context. Or you could read Journey to the West.

    It’s from Lightchaser who also did White Snake which was a classical tale on the original myth. The end credits scene connects these two films (it’s all about reincarnation which is a fair way to build this universe). I look forward to the next installment.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Hoppy New Year!

    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •