SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- A manager of Australia's major cinema chain Hoyts said on Tuesday that his company is trying to make sure everyone in the country who wants to see the Chinese animated film "Ne Zha 2" has an opportunity to watch it.

"We can see how big the demand is," Louis Georg, film programmer and foreign content manager of Hoyts Group, which owns one of the largest cinema chains in Australia, told Xinhua.

"And we're doing what we can to adjust and make sure that everyone in Australia who wants to see this film has an opportunity to get to the cinema and watch it," he said.

For the past weekend in its debut, "Ne Zha 2" was screened in more than 90 cinemas across Australia and over 35 of them were Hoyts cinemas, Georg said, adding that it was "certainly a record for any Chinese release in history up to this point which is fantastic."

"And we're screening the film 'Ne Zha 2' in cinemas that we've never previously shown Chinese films. And they're selling out," he said.

Georg said Hoyts added nine more locations to screen the film on Monday.

"Ne Zha 2" is the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster "Ne Zha." Both films were inspired by the 16th-century Chinese mythological novel "The Investiture of the Gods."

"Ne Zha 2" has dethroned Disney's 2024 picture "Inside Out 2" to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time globally. As of Tuesday evening, the film's worldwide earnings, including presales, surpassed 12.32 billion yuan (about 1.72 billion U.S. dollars), according to data from Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan.

In addition to actions and emotions, "Ne Zha 2" is also very humorous, and all of those together make a very engaging storyline, Georg said. "It's certainly the type of film I'd be happy to see two or three more times...its success is not surprising."

"Ne Zha 2" shows the "shocking" and "incredible" progress Chinese animated films have made in recent years, the Australian cinema chain manager said.

"It's very clearly displayed when you see in 'Ne Zha 2' the details that are in the screen, the way they create this epic environment of the oceans and the world, the jade palace," Georg said. "All of that stuff is so incredibly done in the animation."

"I'd like to mention it's not just the advancements in the technology that's so important. It's the creativity. It's the ingenuity. It's the skill in storytelling in Chinese cinema that has actually progressed so much," he said.

"With all of those factors, both the technological advancements and also the improvements in skill of storytelling. I think that's what creates such a bright future for Chinese animation films," Georg said.

"Ne Zha 2" took the third spot with 2.35 million Australian dollars (1.50 million U.S. dollars) in the Weekend Total Box Office from Thursday through Sunday, according to data from box office reporting company Numero on Monday.

"Captain America: Brave New World" made it to the top spot, earning 5.31 million Australian dollars in its debut. "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" secured the second position with 4.45 million Australian dollars in opening weekend earnings.

So far, "Ne Zha 2's" audiences in Australia are still mainly from the Chinese diaspora, Georg said, adding that although many Westerners have long been interested in Chinese culture, there have not been many opportunities for Western audiences to be exposed to Chinese films.

The promotion of "Ne Zha 2" in Australia has achieved some success and "we're on the path to opening up these films to a wider audience," he said.

"Sometimes the quality of the film itself is the best marketing. So for these sorts of films, as the quality of these Chinese language films improves, the audiences will naturally grow and find these films," Georg said. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)