With Ne Zha: Demon Child Conquers the Sea, or Ne Zha 2, the second installment in the animated Ne Zha franchise, ranking as the world's fifth highest-grossing film ever and on track to surpass James Cameron's Titanic on the all-time chart, Chinese cinema is enjoying a moment of

unprecedented commercial success at the global box office, which raises new questions about what's next for the country's film industry.

In two exclusive interviews, Beijing Review reporter Peng Jiawei talked to Simon Abrams, a New York-based film critic and regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wrap and film review website RogerEbert.com, and Chris Berry, a professor of film studies with a particular research

interest in Chinese and Asian cinema and screen cultures at King's College London, about what is driving the runaway success of Ne Zha 2—and what it signals for the future of Chinese cinema as it ventures into international markets. Edited excerpts of their conversations follow:

Beijing Review: In your view, what accounts for the breakout success of Ne Zha 2?

Simon Abrams: I still remember how refreshing it felt to watch Ne Zha when it was released in 2019—I went in with no expectations at all. When the second one came out, I was hopeful, but I don't think anyone could have predicted it would become such a massive, billion-dollar hit.

Looking back, I think one reason for its sweeping popularity is that it isn't just aimed at teenagers. Instead, it speaks to a wide-ranging audience; everyone can find within the film something to connect with.

Then you see all the other films that try to do something similar, but few manage to strike the same balance of humor, action, spectacle and emotional heft.

New Gods: Ne Zha Reborn, for instance, took the legend of Ne Zha and transplanted it into a completely new setting, folding in so many different elements that it ended up feeling scattered. (New Gods: Ne Zha Reborn (2021) is a Chinese animated film that reimagines the Ne Zha story through a steampunk lens, with the child deity reincarnated as a motorcycle-riding delivery man in the fictional modern city of Donghai—Ed.)

What makes Ne Zha 2 particularly effective, by contrast, is its attention to character development, with subtle moments woven into the narrative that reveal the growth of not just the two protagonists but also across a wide ensemble of allies and adversaries. Even side characters like Shen Gongbao, the main villain in the first Ne Zha film, are given their own backstories, or at least moments where their characters evolve in unexpected ways.

You see it too in Ne Zha's parents, who carry much of the film's emotional weight. Yet despite the film's sprawling cast, epic battles and constant shifts in alliances, I never felt lost; I always knew what was at stake in each scene, what mattered within the vast network of characters. Even as it juggles multiple storylines, these different threads all tie into a singular theme—the importance of family—and therefore the narrative rarely loses sight of what drives its characters.

What I also really appreciated about Ne Zha 2 is that it doesn't try to reinvent the story just for the sake of being different—something a lot of film franchises tend to do with sequels. Ne Zha is still very much himself: He reacts to the world around him in the same bratty, impulsive way he did in the first film. But what's powerful is that the film allows him to stay that way; it doesn't force a transformation just to show artificial growth.

There are moments where you can see him questioning whether he should become someone else. But ultimately, the film adheres to the series' core message: You are fine as you are. It offers a rare case where giving us more of the same turned out to be a strength, not a weakness.

From Ne Zha films and the Creation of the Gods franchise, adapted from the 16th-century Chinese fantasy novel Investiture of the Gods, to earlier works such as the 2002 hit Hero and the 1964 animated movie Havoc in Heaven, Chinese cinema has drawn deeply from ancient Chinese history and mythology. Do you think this kind of cultural specificity presents a challenge for these films to connect with international audiences?

Chris Berry: The use of Chinese legends and history is not necessarily an obstacle to international success. On the contrary, it may be an advantage, because it is a unique selling point.

However, the key issue is how those stories are told. If they require prior knowledge, then they won't flow easily in the global marketplace. If the aim is global success, then one has to think about how to tell the story in a way that can be understood by global audiences.

Think about the different cinematic adaptations of the story of Qinshihuang that were made around the turn of the century. (Qinshihuang was the founder of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) and the first emperor of a united China—Ed.) Chen Kaige made The Emperor and the Assassin in 1998, Zhou Xiaowen made The Emperor's Shadow in 1996 and Zhang Yimou made Hero in 2002.

All three were intended to be global hits, but only Zhang Yimou's succeeded. He told the story in a way that was both visually striking and narratively compelling—and it all made perfect sense to overseas audiences, even if you have never heard of Qinshihuang.

Abrams: I admit I'm an unusual case, but as a kid I used to watch the 1986 TV adaptation of Journey to the West (a 16th-century novel with Monkey King as an iconic protagonist—Ed.) on Saturday nights. And that early exposure made me fall in love with not just the series itself, but also Chinese stories rooted in mythology and folklore more broadly.

That said, even for viewers unfamiliar with classical Chinese narratives, I don't think a film like Ne Zha 2 is difficult for international audiences to follow.

A major reason for this easy entry is that there has already been a well-established global market for action, fantasy and sensory bombardment—a taste that has been cultivated over the years by Marvel movies and other Hollywood blockbusters.

Audiences today have come to expect big spectacles, and there's a growing appetite for films that can deliver on that scale. In that sense, Chinese filmmakers are well positioned to tap into this thirst for fantastical content, especially as viewers around the world are increasingly looking out for new sources of epic storytelling.

What strategies might help Chinese cinema broaden its global appeal? What's your perspective on the future of Chinese films on the global stage?

Berry: Perhaps we need to rethink what we mean by "global appeal" and focus instead on how different genres can speak to different audiences.

Hong Kong kungfu films, for instance, found their initial audiences in the United States among African American communities, who liked the fact that Bruce Lee beat the white guys, and then the genre built wider audiences from there.

Similarly, the Fifth Generation, which is more a cinematic movement than a genre, found their initial breakthrough with cinephiles at film festivals before expanding into other audience groups. (The Fifth Generation is a group of Chinese film directors, including Zhang, who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s—Ed.)

It seems very likely that the next breakthrough for Chinese cinema abroad will also spring from a specific and focused pathway. Just as the popularity of early kungfu movies and Fifth Generation films helped draw international attention to other films in the same category, the breakout success of Ne Zha 2 could pave the way for other Chinese animated films to expand into overseas markets.

Abrams: The smashing success of Ne Zha 2 at the global box office is so unprecedented that it's bound to open up new opportunities for Chinese cinema—especially animated films—to build a stronger foothold in international markets.

I'm also curious to see how it leads to greater diversity and creativity in the domestic animation industry—a shift that, from what I've seen, is already well underway.

A Chinese animated film that I really enjoyed is The Storm, an independent animated feature film released in 2024. It is a visually rich, fantasy-driven 2D animation that blends the influence of [Japanese animation filmmaker] Hayao Miyazaki with the style of traditional Chinese ink painting.

Then there's Have a Nice Day, a darkly comic, neo-noir animated film set in a gritty Chinese city. It is a small-budget production that is aiming more for an art-house audience than the mainstream crowd. But it has great style and humor, and I was really impressed.

What's important now is that the success of Ne Zha 2 does not just lead to the overseas expansion of more big-budget productions, but also helps build an environment where smaller projects like The Storm and Have a Nice Day can reach a wider audience.

In an ideal future, the global impact of Chinese cinema won't be solely defined by commercial hits like Ne Zha 2, but by a wide spectrum of films that reflect the full range of cinematic storytelling, be it large or small, mainstream or arthouse.

Once you get to that, it will be clear that Chinese films have truly arrived on the global stage.

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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