A new film is breaking box-office records in China
“Ne Zha 2” shows how the mood inside the country is changing
Film-makers in China have long tried to find the secret sauce for movies that wow audiences while pleasing the Communist Party. The epics that evolved became known as zhuxuanlu, or “main melody” films, because they are in tune with the party line. But the heavy doses of patriotism that they usually involve have fallen out of favour. Instead, one Beijing studio has struck gold with a cartoon reimagining the tale of a “demon child” from a 16th-century novel.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Demon child on the silver screen”
From the March 8th 2025 edition
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