Yang Yu, director of "Ne Zha 2", an animated feature film that recently became China's all-time top-grossing film, said in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) that he makes every film as if it were his last.
By Thursday, “Ne Zha 2” had taken in more than 5.77 billion yuan (about 804.84 million U.S. dollars) in box office revenue, achieving the milestone in just eight days and five hours, according to ticketing platforms Maoyan and Beacon.
Surpassing 2021 war epic "The Battle at Lake Changjin", the film has become the highest-grossing film of all time in China.
The animated feature is the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster "Ne Zha", drawing inspiration from the tale of a mythological figure of the same name from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel "Fengshen Yanyi", or "The Investiture of the Gods".
The first "Ne Zha" generated an impressive 5 billion yuan in box office revenue, while also winning numerous accolades.
Yang said that making "Ne Zha 2" following the huge success of the first movie brought rising expectations from the audience and pushed the creative team to set high standards for the sequel.
"[The huge success of the prequel] gave us momentum, pressure and anxiety. The prequel was a big surprise to the audience, because they had no expectation for it, but 'Ne Zha 2' was produced amid rising expectation, which put us under pressure and kept pushing us forward. So, we set high standards for 'Ne Zha 2' and pushed ourselves to the limit," said Yang.
Noting that Ne Zha is anxious about his appearance, Yang said he introduced this feature purposely to present the character's inner struggle and avoid depicting a flat character.
"The human nature is complex. One will gradually start to doubt himself after being told 100 times he is wrong. Ne Zha is no exception and he will experience the same inner struggle as everyone does. We did this to avoid building a flat character," Yang said.
Yang said the rise of China's animation movie industry and the excellent works of his fellow filmmakers have been encouraging him to do his best in making masterpieces.
"The Chinese animation movie industry has produced many excellent works over recent years, and I think the trend does exit and I have no doubt about this. Over recent years, animation film makers have been encouraging their colleagues and have been witnessing the release of a slew of masterpieces, which also encouraged me to make more breakthroughs. I produce every film as if it were the last work in my lifetime, leaving no space for further improvement, but I will still try to make breakthroughs in my next work," said Yang.
I make every film as if it were my final work: "Ne Zha 2" director
After more than three months at sea, members of China's 16th Arctic Ocean expedition have jointly created a painting that captures both the triumphs and trials of polar scientific research.
Organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the expedition deployed four ships, Xuelong, Xuelong 2, Jidi, and Tansuo 3, to study extreme environmental changes in the Arctic against the backdrop of accelerating global warming. On September 29, Xuelong and Xuelong 2 returned to Shanghai after completing their missions.
During the voyage, China Media Group (CMG) reporters aboard Xuelong invited nearly 100 crew members to collaborate on a canvas, sharing their experiences. The painting depicts the difficulties and challenges they faced, the honors and expectations of their research, and the images of those dedicated to science.
Before any crew member ever picked up a brush, the Arctic had already sketched the background with its extreme weather. Strong winds, torrents, and a harsh environment posed major challenges for the researchers.
"After staying outside for some five or ten minutes, our hands would already be frozen red. When we reached the trough of the waves [on a boat], it would look as if the waves were coming right over our heads," recalled Zhu Chengwei, an expedition member.
Despite the hardship, the researchers successfully tested and used domestically produced advanced ocean observation equipment in polar research -- one of their proudest moments, which they recorded on the canvas.
Qin Chuan, captain of the Xuelong ocean team, chose to paint a domestically produced monitor float.
"This is an Argo float we deployed, which automatically monitors ocean profiles. It has great significance for understanding the basic marine environment, and it's made in China," he said.
Xie Haixiang, director of the Xuelong laboratory, sketched a fundamental research equipment for the trip.
"I will draw a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth instrument). The CTD is the most important equipment for ocean surveys, providing the most basic data and water samples," he said.
"Only by carrying equipment onto the Arctic sea ice yourself and lowering the instruments, can you get what you want. For instance, we take a little ocean water, and analyze what's in it, to understand the changes each year. Global warming needs to be understood through different dimensions," recalled researcher Zhu.
Beyond the canvas, what stands out even more striking are the moments of dedication: veteran members leading newcomers onto the ice, a group holding its ground in level-8 gales and heavy snow, and 30 people relaying to recover equipment stuck in the ice.
The most important element, beyond any record or image in the painting, is this group of expedition members who fear no hardship.
"Whenever I think of the polar spirit, countless images of those standing at the very front would flash before my eyes," Zhu said.
"What we have done today will benefit future generations. Although we are doing something that may seem very insignificant, I believe it will surely prove its worth in the future,"said Ning Wenfeng, another team member.
China's 16th Arctic expedition crews paint portrait of proud polar expedition moments, hardships
