Sawt Falasteen - Chinese cheer animated blockbuster's release abroad

The animated film, now China's highest-grossing movie of all time, was released overseas last week, sparking hopes among locals that it would gain the same acclaim abroad.

The movie has broken multiple box office records and is the first to earn more than $1 billion in a single market -- overtaking "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" which made $936 million in the United States in 2015.

"Ne Zha 2" hit the big screen in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, one day ahead of its release in the United States and Canada.

At a cinema in Sanlitun, one of Beijing's most popular commercial districts, fan Zhou Jingwen told AFP she was about to see the film for the third time.

"I think it's different from traditional American animated films," the 29-year-old said, adding that she felt it would be well-received abroad and was "rich with Chinese mythological background".

A sequel five years in the making, the fantasy-comedy, loosely based on the 16th-century novel "Investiture of the Gods", tells the tale of a rebellious young deity Ne Zha who uses his powers to battle formidable foes after his village is destroyed.

Released domestically on January 29 to coincide with the Lunar New Year holiday, a prime movie-going time in China, the movie has reignited the country's film industry after 2024 saw box office receipts slump 23 percent compared to a year earlier.

Fan Zhang Kaihan said he was seeing "Ne Zha 2" for the first time, and was looking forward to the sequel featuring even more exciting action scenes than the first movie.

The original "Ne Zha" became China's highest grossing animated film after it was released in 2019.

According to Zhang, moviegoers abroad could gain a better understanding of Chinese culture after seeing the costumes and scenery portrayed in the new film.

"I'm confident that overseas audiences will also love this movie," he added.

Also at the cinema, mother Wen Juan was accompanied by her two sons, aged four and 12, intentionally dressed in red and yellow -- the same colours Ne Zha wears in the film -- along with her husband and parents.

She praised the movie for reflecting "a more modern understanding of parent-child relationships".

The film depicts Ne Zha's parents as supportive and encouraging, departing from the strict Asian family stereotype.

"It inherits elements from tradition but also adapts them, which I find really well done," Wen added.

G.AbuOdeh--SF-PST