‘Ne Zha 2’ Wows Audiences with Groundbreaking Visual Effects
Chinese animated fantasy film “Ne Zha 2” has taken the 2025 Spring Festival holiday box office by storm, captivating audiences with its stunning visual effects and setting new records in the process.
A sequel to the 2019 blockbuster “Ne Zha,” the film draws inspiration from the mythological figure Ne Zha from the Ming Dynasty novel “Fengshen Yanyi”, or “The Investiture of the Gods”. Building upon its predecessor, “Ne Zha 2” pushes the boundaries of animation with enhanced visuals that offer an even more immersive cinematic experience.
“The total number of shots with special visual effects in ‘Ne Zha 2’ exceeds the entire shot count of the first movie,” said Chen Changjiang, executive producer of the film. “With 34 major scenes, the movie delivers a small climax as early as the seventh scene.”
This pivotal moment centers on a massive horde of mythical sea creatures bound by chains, a scene that posed significant challenges for the production team. Director Yang Yu, also known as Jiaozi, insisted on the inclusion of the chains, deeming them essential to the plot’s core logic.
“Those chains were non-negotiable for me,” Yang said. “Our effects team had never faced such a task, so it required a lot of trial and error. It was a research and development process.”
The team worked tirelessly to meet the director’s vision, investing significant time and effort into developing complex effects. “We wanted to create something audiences had never seen before, delivering a strong visual impact and offering fresh artistic expression,” Yang explained. “This is the kind of work we believe is truly worth doing.”
Initially, some important shots were outsourced to top foreign visual effects teams, but the results did not align with the director’s vision. “So we took the project back, and our domestic team worked hard to polish it, ultimately achieving the results we desired,” Yang said in an interview with China Media Group.
He emphasized the importance of perseverance and continuous improvement. “Nothing under the sun is new, and all difficult things can be solved by people who stick to it,” he remarked. “We are still in a learning phase, and the gap is definitely closing.”
The success of “Ne Zha 2” is part of a larger trend in China’s film industry. As of Tuesday, the country’s total box office in 2025, including real-time presales, has surpassed 10 billion yuan (nearly $1.4 billion), ranking first globally—a landmark achievement. The box office revenue for the 2025 Spring Festival holiday alone has reached 9 billion yuan, setting a new record for the same period in China’s film history, according to data from the China Film Administration.
