Good news for our folks in the UK and Ireland. Chinese box office darling Ne Zha 2 will be released this weekend, on Friday, March 21 and will be followed by 37 other countries in the coming weeks. Previews have started as early as March 14.
Ne Zha 2 is a follow-up to an also succesful 2019 Chinese film Ne Zha about a demon boy raised by humans and strives to cultivate himself and protect the people around him from demons and gods. It has broken multiple box office records including the highest grossing Chinese film of all time, the highest grossing animated film of all time beating Inside Out 2, and placing within the top 5 highest grossing films of all time, beating the likes of Spider-man No Way Home, Avengers Infinity War, and Star Wars the Force Awakens, with $2.07B as of writing.
The film is inspired by Chinese mythology with stories dating back to the 16th century under the title "Investiture of the Gods." He is a protection deity who is both heroic and rebellious in nature. For those familiar with Sun Wukong and the story of Journey to the West, Ne Zha was one of the warriors who faced him when he wrecked havoc in heaven.
With a reported $80M budget, the movie features breathtaking animation that took about 4,000 animators to make in 5 years with about 2,000 visual effects shots. The third act alone features about a reported 200 million individually animated characters.
Characters include Ne Zha 2, reincarnation of the demon orb, born to human parents Li Jing and Lady Yin in a fictional setting called Chentang Pass. He is guided by his master Taiyi Zhenren and along the way meets Ao Bing, a reincarnation of the spirit pearl and third son of Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea. Ao Bing, on the other hand, is trained by Taiyi's martial arts brother, Shen Gongbao.
Much has been said about the film's sucess in China, and good word of mouth will now spread in the west with the European release. It will be remembered that it was released on a limited capacity in the US and Canada February 14 but did not get much attention due to being released at the same time as Captain America Brave New World.
The film is now sitting at 93% tomatometer with 14 reviewers, and at 99% popcornmeter with 1,000+ reviewers.