Into the House with the Dragon: the highest-grossing Chinese animated film will be released in Russia

The Chinese animated movie "Nezha Defeats the Dragon King" will be officially released in Russia, a source told Izvestia. This is the third highest-grossing animated film in history, the main Chinese New Year release, which has grossed about $1.5 billion at the domestic box office alone. On February 14, the picture was released in the U.S. and in several other countries, experts predict that the cartoon will soon catch up with "Puzzle 2", becoming the most successful animation in history.

Russia is still looking for approaches to tap into Asian cinema

"Neja Defeats the Dragon King" is the first movie to earn more than $1 billion in a single market. Previously, the seventh episode of "Star Wars" came close to that success, earning $936 million in the United States.

A still from the cartoon "Naeja Defeats the Dragon King."

Photo: Coco Cartoon

The animated blockbuster by Yang Yu, a medical school graduate who retrained as a director, was released in China on Jan. 29 for the Lunar New Year holiday. In just over two weeks, which included the New Year's vacation, the picture earned more than $1.4 billion in its home country and is setting record after record. For example, this is the first non-Hollywood project to become a billionaire at the box office. February 13 shows of the animated film began in Australia and New Zealand, and on February 14, the distribution began in the United States. Triumphant project this year will be released in Russia, told "Izvestia" a source in the film industry.

- "Necja defeats the King of Dragons" will officially go into Russian theatrical distribution, - said the interlocutor of "Izvestia". The release date and rental title are still under discussion.

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The animated film is a sequel to the feature-length animated film "Nechja", released in 2019. "Nezha Defeats the Dragon King," inspired by the 16th century novel "Fengshen Yanyi," is actually a remake of the 1979 animated film of the same name produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

According to the plot, the general's son, Nezha, and his friend, Queen Ao Bin, who willed by heaven to share one body for two, embark on a new adventure. In the last movie they almost died, this time there will be even more dangers. To obtain an artifact with which Ao can return his own body, the heroes must pass three rounds of tests, which they are given by the supreme deities.

A still from the cartoon "Naeja Defeats the Dragon King."

Photo: Coco Cartoon

The movie was shot entirely in China. More than 130 animation studios and over 4,000 people were involved in its creation, according to CNN Business.

President of the film network "KARO" Olga Zinyakova, commenting on the news, noted that the film distribution market in Russia continues to be in a transitional state, content is still lacking. Only by testing new releases can the industry get an idea of the true needs of the audience.

- Foreign content is in demand in Russia, but it is predominantly Western. There is still a need to find an approach to marketing Asian cinema, to establish a dialog with an interested audience. There are successful cases of Korean content, such as anime, and this niche is in demand. But for the most part, distributors are still at the stage of searching for the right tools. In the case of "Naeja", its spectacularity and the international sarafan can play to the advantage," she told Izvestia.

The cartoon is expected to make more than $2 bln

In an interview with China's CCTV television channel, Yang Yu said he initially approached international production groups to create some key scenes, but the results, he said, fell short of expectations. "Of course, even top-tier studios can use third-rate staff for our project. Because after outsourcing, a lot of the staff didn't turn out the way we wanted. We ended up bringing them back," he added.

In just 17 days at the Chinese box office, the animated film grossed $1.458 billion, providing local cinemas with 17% of the revenue. "Nezha defeats the Dragon King" has already overtaken in the list of the world's highest-grossing animated films, "Cold Heart," "Super Mario Brothers at the Movies" and took third place, and that - if you count the animated remake of "The Lion King" ($1.6 billion). As it is, only "Puzzle 2" ($1.7 billion) is ahead.

A still from the cartoon "Naeja Defeats the Dragon King."

Photo: Coco Cartoon

At the same time, local ticketing platform Maoyan raised its forecast for the final collections of the animated film in China to $2.19 billion. If the sequel "Neji" reaches this mark, it will overtake "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and become the fifth highest-grossing feature film in the world, behind only "Titanic", "Avatar: Path of Water", "Avengers: The Final Destination" and the first part of "Avatar".

- The animated film has already topped the global box office chart in one market and is expected to vie for the top spot on the global animated movie box office list. "Little Nezha from Chinese mythology, who rides on wind and fire wheels, is now shaking hands with global box office icons such as Minions, Buzz Lightyear and Spider-Man," noted Chinese publication Huanqiu Shibao.

The Chinese are independently promoting the movie at home

On February 12, "Nezha Defeats the Dragon King" kicked off in North America in the form of special screenings; it appeared in full in U.S. theaters on February 14, although it is technically considered a limited release there. According to the Huanqiu Shibao, presales for "Nezhu 2" indicate great enthusiasm from American viewers. The occupancy rate at screenings exceeds 90%, and tickets are already impossible to get at some theaters. The cartoon has also been released in several other countries, including the Oceania region. Thus, in Australia, pre-sales for shows also exceeded expectations, and some Europeans are forming separate groups to go to Greece, where the cartoon is going to the movies. According to China Daily, the makers of "Neji 2" aim to capture as many foreign audiences as possible in about 40 countries. Among the potential markets are countries in Europe and Africa, Japan and Thailand.

A still from the cartoon "Naeja Defeats the Dragon King."

Photo: Coco Cartoon

In China, moviegoers have banded together to support the movie and drive ticket sales as high as possible. So, on Chinese social media, users encouraged each other to go to the movies for the sequel "Neji" and watch it several times. One popular hashtag on Chinese microblogging site Weibo equates the movie's success in global rankings to raising the republic's national flag.

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A still from the cartoon "Naeja Defeats the Dragon King."

Photo: Coco Cartoon

Winning high positions in the U.S. and other Western markets will not be so easy for "Nezhe". So far, its main competitor is the just-released Marvel blockbuster "Captain America: The Brave New World," which, however, has not yet met with the most enthusiastic reception. Experts note that outside the Chinese diaspora cartoon will be difficult to connect with a wider international audience, which is not used to such content. But analysts may also be wrong. "Izvestia" will closely follow the fate of Little Nezhi, including in the Russian box office. So far, the most successful Chinese film in our box office remains the third "Armor of God", which sold 1.2 million tickets in 2012 and grossed almost 300 million rubles.