Ne Zha Tops China’s Animation Film Box Office of All Time《哪吒》：中国史上最卖座动画电影

艾言

No doubt， China’s domestic animation film Ne Zha is to be inscribed in the history of  the country’s film industry.

By bringing in ¥138.5m on its opening day， Ne Zha overtook the previous record-holder Despicable Me 3 to top the country’s first-day charts for animated films.

On August 2， only one week after debuting， the film’s box office surpassed Disney’s Zootopia to become the biggest ever animation film of the market. The latter stayed dominantly in the chart for more than three years， since 2016.

As of August 9， Ne Zha has already grossed over 3 billion yuan （470 million U.S. dollars）. Along with the soaring number in box office earnings is people’s anticipation of the Chinese animation film industry.

Loosely based on the Ming Dynasty （1368—1644） novel Fengshen Yanyi （The Investiture of the Gods）， the film is about a mythological figure who fights against unfair destiny.

The 110-minute film， by 1980s-born director Yang Yu， better known as Jiaozi （“Dumpling”）， offers a retelling of the household tale that strikes a chord with1 a modern Chinese audience.

In the novel， Ne Zha is a rebellious2 teenager who kills whoever gets in his way. His relationship with his father， Li Jing， is tense. His father， a cowardly and selfish commander who governs the fictional port of Chen Tang Guan， forces Ne Zha to commit suicide over an error. Ne Zha is reborn as a three-headed， six-armed deity who rides on two magical “wind-and-fire” wheels to fight his enemies.

Ne Zha has traditionally been portrayed as an attractive young figure， but Yang has channeled an unconventional spirit into Ne Zha and depicted him as a mischievous boy with cute and ugly features.

Another noticeable renovation is that instead of being the chosen one， Ne Zha is a self-made god this time.

In the film， Ne Zha is born with a “cursed destiny” and unfairly treated by local villagers who believe that the naughty， yet good-hearted， child will grow up to be a public threat. In another deviation3 from the original， the father is depicted as a noble man who would sacrifice his own life to rescue his son.

“I’m the captain of my destiny， not heaven” is one of Ne Zha’s lines in the film that has become a motto for many and made the rounds on social media. Though supposedly-born evil， Ne Zha chooses to sacrifice himself to save the villagers from death. By doing so， he grows into a hero instead of fitting into his doomed destiny.

“This film is about an individual who fights against prejudice and social exclusion，” says Yang.

It is not quite a surprise that Yang Yu， while outlining a story for his first feature film， would choose Ne Zha. As a graduate of medical school， he determined to become a self-trained animator and director， and it took him nearly four years to complete his first short animation film See Through.

Released in 2009， the 16-minute pic earned rave reviews and numerous accolades， including the Berlin International Film Festival’s special jury prize for shorts.

Boosted by that success， Yang then founded his own animation company in the Chinese city of Chengdu but spent the next six years toiling on his debut feature and struggling to find financing for the project—what would ultimately become Ne Zha. He was then approached by Coloroom Pictures， Enlight’s startup animation subsidiary， with financing and technical support in 2015. Coloroom’s CEO， Yi Qiao， has said in interviews with the Chinese media that he was attracted to Yang because of his “poverty and his crazy， single-minded passion for animation storytelling.”

With the film’s success， a group of numbers has been repeatedly mentioned in reports： five years of hard work， 66 editions of scripts， more than 100 designs of Ne Zha’s image， 1，318 visual effect shots， 20 special effects companies and around 1，600 staff members.

“I’ve been challenging my limits all the time， until we ran out of money，” Yang said during an interview with Beijing Youth Daily. “I think it is a miracle we have finished it. I cannot remember which part is the most difficult because the whole process is like a journey in hell4.”

Fortunately， Ne Zha did not disappoint him. After breaking a number of records， the box office of the film is expected to exceed four billion yuan （626 million U.S. dollars）.

The soaring box office again ignited people’s passion and expectations for domestic animation films， four years after the “Monkey King： Hero is Back”， a film that has given hope to the industry that had been lagging behind for decades.

Starting in 2015， “the rise of domestic animation films” has occasionally been mentioned whenever an animation film wins critical acclaim， such as “Big Fish & Begonia”， “Dahufa” and “White Snake”. But insiders say that the domestic industry is still lingering on the starting point.

Critics pointed out that the domestic animation film market is still occupied by a large amount of low-quality and small-budget films for the underage and only a few animation films are targeting adults. Meanwhile， original stories are still wanted. Most of the current productions are still adaptations of existing stories from the traditional culture.

Yi Qiao once mentioned that there isn’t a complete industrial chain in China’s animation industry and most of the animation companies have no capacity to work independently for a film.

Behind all of this is the lack of talent in the industry. The scale of the domestic films is expected to reach 210 billion yuan by 2020. However， at least one million professional talents are lacking in the industry. Yang Yu， while producing Ne Zha， had to do a lot of detailed work by himself.

While asked about whether Ne Zha represents the “rise of domestic animations，” director Yang Yu said that “when people stop talking about ‘rise of domestic animations’ and take good animation for granted， that’s when we can say that the industry has risen”.

毋庸置疑，国产动画电影《哪吒》将载入中国电影史册。

《哪吒》首映日票房收入1.385億元，超过此前《神偷奶爸3》创下的纪录，荣登中国动画电影首日票房榜首。

8月2日，首映仅一周之后，《哪吒》的总票房便超越了迪士尼的《疯狂动物城》，成为中国史上最卖座的动画电影。后者自2016年起便雄踞动画电影票房榜首超过三年之久。

截至8月9日，《哪吒》票房入账超过30亿元（4.7亿美金）。随着票房的一路飙升，人们对于国产动画电影产业的期望也水涨船高。

《哪吒》的情节大致基于明朝（1368—1644）小说《封神演义》，讲述了一个神话人物反抗不公命运的故事。

这部110分钟的电影由80后导演杨宇（外号“饺子”）执导，他将一个家喻户晓的传说重新改编，引发了中国现代观众的共鸣。

在小说中，哪吒是一个遇神杀神的叛逆少年，与他父亲李靖的关系非常紧张。李靖则是一个胆小怕事、自私自利的将军，镇守小说里虚构的陈塘关，强迫哪吒以死谢罪。哪吒重生之后，变成了三头六臂的神仙，脚踏神奇风火轮，与他的敌人继续战斗。

传统意义上的哪吒通常都是英俊少年的形象，而杨宇却赋予了哪吒与众不同的精神，将其刻画成了一个丑萌丑萌的混世魔童。

另一大创新点则是哪吒这次的成神之路是由自己选定而非被动选择。

在电影中，哪吒生来“不祥”，当地人都认定这个顽劣不堪却心地善良的孩子长大之后会给世间带来灾难。另一个与原著的不同之处在于，电影将李靖塑造为舍身救子的伟大父亲。

“我命由我不由天”是哪吒在电影中的一句台词，现已成为许多人的座右铭，在社交媒体上广为流传。尽管生而为魔，哪吒却选择牺牲自我、拯救百姓。如此，他便成为了一名英雄，而非顺应宿命成魔为祸。

杨宇说：“这部电影讲述的是个人打破偏见、与社会排斥抗争的故事。”

杨宇在写他的第一部故事长片提纲时会选择《哪吒》并不奇怪。从医学院毕业后，他下决心转行，自学成为动画师和导演，然后用了将近四年时间完成了自己的第一部动画短片《打，打个大西瓜》。

这部16分钟的动画片于2009年发布后便好评如潮、获奖无数，其中包括柏林国际短片电影节的评委会特别奖。

大获成功之后，杨宇在成都创建了自己的动画公司，之后的六年里他一直在打磨自己的动画长片处女作，努力寻找项目投资——这一切最终成就了《哪吒》。2015年，光线传媒旗下的动画分公司彩条屋影业找到了他，为他提供资金与技术支持。彩条屋CEO易巧在接受中国媒体的采访中谈到，他之所以被杨宇吸引，是因为他的“贫穷以及他对动画叙事疯狂而纯粹的热情”。

随着电影的走红，一组数字在各类报道中被反复提及：5年苦干、66版剧本、100多个哪吒形象设计、1318个视觉特效镜头、20家特效公司以及近1600名工作人员。

“一路走来，每次都是挑战到自己的极限，直到我们钱都烧光了。”杨宇在接受《北京青年报》的采访时说道，“最后能够完成，我觉得也算是一个奇迹了。我不记得哪个是最难的，因为整个过程像一场地狱之旅。”

所幸《哪吒》并没有令他失望。在打破多项纪录之后，这部电影的票房预计将超过40亿元（6.26亿美金）。

飙升的票房再一次点燃了人们对于国产动画电影的热情与期许。四年前，《大圣归来》曾经给落后几十年的动画影业带来过希望。

自2015年起，每当有诸如《大鱼海棠》《大护法》《白蛇：缘起》等动画电影受到好评之时，“国产动画电影崛起”便时不时地被提及。然而，业内人士称国产动画影业仍然在起点徘徊。

评论家指出国产动画电影市场仍然充斥着大量粗制滥造、成本低廉的儿童影片，只有少数面向成年人的动画电影。同时，原创故事依旧比较缺乏。目前大多数的作品还是改编自传统文化中的现有故事。

易巧曾经提到，中国动画产业缺乏完整的产业链，大多数动画公司没有能力独立制作电影。

这一切的背后是产业人才的缺乏。2020年国产影业的规模预计将达到2100亿元人民币。然而，整个产业至少有100万名专业人才的缺口。制作《哪吒》的时候，很多细致的工作杨宇都不得不亲力亲为。

当被问及《哪吒》是否代表“国产动漫的崛起”之时，导演杨宇说：“当大家都不再提国漫崛起、把好动画当作理所当然的时候，这个时候国漫就崛起了。”

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖选手）