"Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" is a hit Chinese animation is not the time to be proud

"Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" (hereinafter referred to as "Nezha") grossed over 700 million yuan in the first three days of its weekend, and has now broken the domestic animation record of 956 million yuan set by "The Return of the Great Sage" four years ago. It seems that a new dynasty of Chinese animation is coming, but I smell a hint of sadness.

First of all, we must congratulate director Jiaozi, who made history with his first animated feature film. Jiaozi first entered the industry's field of vision 11 years ago with the animated short film "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon". This 16-minute short film was independently created in 2002 and took three and a half years to complete. It was dormant until 2008, but it became an instant hit and won many awards. Ten years later, the first feature work of the genius boy finally came out, and it was unexpectedly another king bomb.

Secondly, congratulations to Chinese animation, which has finally broken through the 1 billion mark and pointed to the new territory of the Chinese animation market. Before 2019, among the top ten animation box office in the Chinese film market, only three local works, "Big Fish and Begonia", "Boonie Bears: The Transformation" and "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", were listed, ranking 9th, 7th and 5th with box office of 565 million, 605 million and 956 million respectively. The advent of "Nezha" will strongly rewrite this history. It is not only expected to easily dethrone Hollywood animations "Zootopia" and "Coco" from the first and second place, but it is even very likely to hit the 2 billion box office mark. A golden age of domestic animation is vaguely visible.

The sadness of the film is first of all due to the sadness of the schedule. With the withdrawal of films such as "Better Days" and "A Little Wish", the good times of the summer box office that have been running wild for years are suddenly gone. So far, only one film, "Drug War 2: Heaven and Earth Showdown", has entered the top ten of the annual list with a performance of about 1.3 billion yuan. This is also the only domestic film that has broken the 1 billion mark after the Spring Festival. On the other hand, among the top ten imported films after the Spring Festival, except for "Avengers 4: The End of the World" dominating the second place of the year, "Spider-Man: Far From Home", "Bumblebee", "Captain Marvel" and "Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters" did not meet market expectations. In addition, Hollywood first-line brands such as "The Lion King", "X-Men: Dark Phoenix", "Men in Black: International" and "Shazam!" have all failed, losing both box office and reputation. In other words, in the competition between China and foreign countries after the Spring Festival, it is not that Hollywood blockbusters are too strong, but that we are too weak. The high screening schedule of "Nezha" is not only due to the boost in word-of-mouth from the preview screenings, but also to the gap left by the withdrawal of a large number of domestic films, and the poor performance of imported films such as "The Lion King". The market is looking forward to excellent works to quench its thirst.

What makes people sad is the tortuous path of domestic animation talents. Jiaozi, the director of "Nezha", graduated from the School of Pharmacy of West China University of Medical Sciences. He only started to study animation creation in his junior year. He is not a graduate of film or animation. Coincidentally, Tian Xiaopeng, the director of "The Return of the Great Sage", is similar to Jiaozi. He majored in software at Beijing University of Technology and only started to use 3D creation software in his third year. In addition, before Bu Sifan, the director of "The Great Guardian", engaged in professional animation, he worked in the local telecommunications bureau for 13 years, and drawing comics was once a hobby. Liang Xuan, one of the two directors of "Big Fish and Begonia", dropped out of Tsinghua University's thermal power major and switched to professional animation. The vanguards of this wave of excellent domestic animation are not from professional schools, so the question is: our animation major has produced more than 300,000 professional students, why are they not active?

At present, behind the high box office of "Nezha", there is a uniform voice of applause, and some people even began to talk about the blueprint of the "Fengshen Universe" that can compete with the "Marvel Universe". When people are excited, it is easy to ignore the trace of coldness behind it. I do not deny the excellence of "Nezha" and its spiritual nourishment and motivational value to the current domestic animation, but at the same time, I also feel that this is not the time for Chinese animation to be proud. Our reserve of excellent animation talents is far from enough, and the output of our professional talents is not in line with the market. Our main animation consumer group has not been liberated from Japanese animation. Our entire film market is still in turmoil. We still have a lot of lessons to make up, and it is far from the time to be proud.

When Jiaozi started to create his first animated short film "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon", he was only 22 years old. When he finished the creation, he was 25 years old, in the prime of his life. When the short film was released, he was 28 years old, which was the prime of his life. Now that his first animated feature film "Nezha" has been released, he is already 39 years old. We can imagine that when he stands on several podiums for "Nezha" next year, he will be in his forties. Jiaozi's road to success is a microcosm of Chinese animation - the road is too long and the time is too heavy.