(Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment). The first bonus scene is set amid Chinese New Year festivities (when the film was originally supposed to open, had COVID not shuttered cinemas in January), as Ne Zha drops in to celebrate the holiday with Jiang Ziya. Directed by Teng Cheng and Wei Li, the 110-minute feature is the follow-up to international blockbuster Ne Zha and the second chapter in the Fengshen Cinematic Universe. Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. All rights reserved. Following a gorgeous hand-drawn prologue, wherein Jiang Ziya vanquishes the nine-tailed Fox Demon in the “Great War,” the film puts the character on the path to becoming the leader of all gods. As in other Chinese fantasy movies, the rules won’t necessarily be clear to Western minds (especially as regards reincarnation in a film where beloved characters die in the fight), although no less so than your typical Hollywood superhero saga. Born with unique powers, a boy is recruited to fight demons and save the community that fears him. "We hope blockbuster movies, such as 'Jiang Ziya,' will help attract more moviegoers to return to the cinemas," she added. Playing fast and loose with classic Chinese literature, both films draw their lead characters from the 16th-century novel “Fengshen Yanyi” (aka “Investiture of the Gods”) and concern the meddling by immortals and demons in the affairs of men more than a thousand years B.C. “Jiang Ziya,” “Ne Zha” and How Not to Make an Expanded Cinematic Universe. Official poster of Chinese animated film "Jiang Ziya." (or 3,000 years Before Now). The film currently boasts a rating of 8.5 points out of 10 on the Maoyan platform and a rating of 7.1 on Douban, a review platform. That’s how fans first learned of this film’s existence: Adopting a strategy that has served Marvel well at the movies, “Ne Zha” touted the arrival of “Jiang Ziya” in its last few minutes, sparking a wave of excitement among fans, and now in turn, this follow-up wraps with promises that there’s a greater “Fengshen Cinematic Universe” afoot. â–, 010020070750000000000000011102121394133881. The much-anticipated movie, which is was originally scheduled to be released on Jan. 25, the first day of Chinese New Year, but it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like Ne Zha, Jiang Ziya is in ancient Chinese mythology and packed with mesmerizing visuals. Despite of the limit of 75 percent of theater attendance due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film dominated the domestic box-office with a massive opening day gross of 357 million yuan (around 52 million U.S. dollars), breaking the opening day record of Chinese animated film held by "Ne Zha" with 144 million yuan (around 21 million U.S. dollars), according to the major Chinese film database Maoyan. Please try it again. My advice is to go with it. Here is the official synopsis: To earn his place amongst the gods, celestial army commander Jiang Ziya must vanquish a terrifying fox demon threatening the very existence of the mortal realm. Well Go Use is distributing the movie Stateside. Randall Okita’s ... GKIDS, the acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, announced it ... From major movie studios to independent producers, real-time production tools are being explored as a ... Zodiak Kids Studio France, part of Banijay, and Gigglebug Entertainment, the leading creator and producer ... Home | Contact | Privacy Policy | Subscriber Login Here, the title character is tall and slender, like Ralph Bakshi’s Gandalf or any number of video-game heroes, with angular features and a kind of inner calm that’s practically antithetical to Ne Zha’s spastic sense of mischief. Hidden behind an opera mask, this seductive character assumes the form of an elaborate demon. Like “Ne Zha” — 2019’s monumental computer-animated box office hit — similarly spectacular CG epic “Jiang Ziya” concludes with nearly 10 minutes of credits: a dense scroll of names amounting to a virtual army of animators, punctuated by extra scenes and teasers for upcoming projects from Chinese distributor Beijing Enlight Pictures.