When "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes to the World" shocked the global film industry with a box office of 5 billion in 2019, this rebellious teenager on a wind-fire wheel has quietly become a pioneer of Chinese culture going overseas. Three years later, the news of the preparation of "Nezha 2" has attracted the attention of the international film and television market. Behind it is not only the upgrade and iteration of an animated film, but also reflects that Chinese products going overseas are undergoing a profound transformation from "symbol output" to "value symbiosis".
1. Cultural decoding: a narrative revolution beyond oriental symbols
The creative team of "Nezha 2" showed amazing narrative wisdom in cross-cultural communication. They abandoned the simple stacking of symbols and reconstructed traditional myths into a universal allegory of modern youth seeking identity recognition. The setting of the Hunyuan Pearl in the film is cleverly transformed into a philosophical speculation on energy crisis and science and technology ethics. This innovation of grafting oriental philosophy with science fiction elements has made the work jump out of the stereotyped framework of "Chinese Elements Expo". In character creation, the binary opposition between Nezha and Ao Bing is deconstructed into a mirror-like personality complementarity. This character setting that breaks through the binary of good and evil resonates with the values of the global Z generation pursuing diversified symbiosis.
2. Industrial system: Standard output builds competitive barriers
The "digital asset management system" independently developed by Light Chaser Animation has improved the 3D modeling accuracy of "Nezha 2" to the pore level. Behind this technological breakthrough is the qualitative change of China's animation industry system. From character binding, cloth solution to fluid special effects, the film's 1,327 special effects shots have all achieved process standardization. This industrial production capacity has enabled Chinese animated films to compete with Pixar and DreamWorks for the first time. What is more noteworthy is that the production team has achieved real-time collaboration among 42 studios around the world through a cloud collaboration platform. This distributed production model is rewriting the animation industry landscape dominated by Hollywood.
3. Ecological overseas expansion: from product output to model empowerment
The global distribution strategy of "Nezha 2" shows a new thinking of China's entertainment industry going overseas. In the Southeast Asian market, we jointly build the "Myth Universe" IP derivative system with local streaming platforms; in the North American market, we export animation production solutions through virtual production technology; in Europe, we focus on the art crowd-creation model and open up some character design rights to overseas comic fans. This three-dimensional overseas model of "content + technology + ecology" is subverting the traditional copyright trade model. Just as TikTok reconstructs social rules and SHEIN reshapes the fast fashion supply chain, the overseas practice of "Nezha 2" proves that Chinese products are evolving from value transmitters to rule makers.
When the trailer of "Nezha 2" triggered bidding by Western film companies at the Cannes Film Festival, what we saw was not only the commercial success of an animated film, but also a vivid footnote to the transformation of Made in China to Created in China. From high-speed rail equipment to digital payment, from new energy vehicles to cultural IP, China's overseas products are completing a qualitative change from cost-effective advantages to value output. The essence of this transformation is that Chinese companies are beginning to master the discourse power of global industrial evolution, exporting new business civilization while exporting products. Just as Nezha finally broke the shackles of destiny, Chinese products going overseas are also breaking the fatal cycle of "OEM-imitation-innovation" and opening up a new narrative of globalization belonging to Eastern wisdom.
