Ne Zha, a mischievous underdog, has put a spell not only on China and its box office but also on other parts of the globe. Enlight Pictures’ Ne Zha 2 recently topped the $2 billion box office milestone to become the world’s highest-grossing animated hit of all time.
It comes as no surprise then that the 15th edition of the Beijing International Film Festival, which runs through April 26, has scheduled events to celebrate the huge success, including a special exhibition of hand-painted posters.
Ne Zha is an imaginative twist on Chinese mythology and a famous 16th-century novel. In the 2019 original, the namesake hero is born an underdog and the reincarnation of a demon. And he must overcome his fate to save his village. In the sequel, Ne Zha faces new trials as he challenges the corrupt gods and demons who oversee the heavens.
On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter had a chance to visit an exhibition of 150 posters for the sequel, hand-painted by director Yang Yu, aka Jiaozi, meaning “dumpling,” and soak up some of the excitement that his fans brought to the special Beijing experience.
‘Ne Zha 2’ exhibition in Beijing
Courtesy of Georg Szalai
At the entrance of the showcase at the Chinese capital’s Langyuan Station event space, people use communications and social media platform WeChat to scan a QR code and then show their WeChat confirmation to an attendant to enter.
Fans are then greeted by the poster shown on the photo above before entering an area that displays the hand-drawn posters and also lets them discover cutouts and other visual displays of Ne Zha and other characters from the film franchise. Even though THR walked through the space at a less busy time, visitors, younger and older, were busy trying to avoid stepping into the frame of others excitedly snapping photos.
It surely helps add another layer to the experience, but you don’t really need to be able to read and understand Chinese to find the posters in the exhibition, including the ones in the picture above, entertaining.
‘Ne Zha 2’ exhibition in Beijing
Courtesy of Georg Szalai
And you start feeling like you are getting more insight into the mind of Jiaozi, who became an overnight celebrity in China, and a role model for some, after the first Ne Zha movie’s success.
After all, he is understood to have channeled his unconventional spirit into Ne Zha and its sequel. In the Ming Dynasty-era text Fengshen Yanyi (also known as The Investiture of the Gods), a well-known work of classical Chinese mythology, Ne Zha is one of the heroes. But he has often been portrayed as an attractive young figure, while the hit animation films depict him as a mischievous boy with cute and ugly features.
You probably don’t even have to have seen the Ne Zha films to enjoy 15 minutes of fun in the free exhibition, lovably defiant underdog character who has to overcome prejudice.
‘Ne Zha 2’ exhibition in Beijing
Courtesy of Georg Szalai
The end of the exhibition in Beijing gives us a bit of a taste for the passion that the animated character has ignited in its fans. First, there is a big wall that is full of scribbled text and drawings from fanboys and fangirls.
And then there is a small merchandising area, including such products as keychains and drinking bottles. On Thursday, families and single visitors were busily asking for the prices of various items and lining up for a spot to pay for a souvenir. Somewhere, Ne Zha is watching – probably, with a mischievous smile.
