The mainland-produced animated film “Ne Zha: The Demon Child Troubles the Sea” (referred to as Ne Zha 2) claimed to have sold around 15.5 billion yuan globally. However, the chairman of the film distributor “Huanxi Media,” Wang Changtian, recently stated at the Shanghai Film Festival that the film’s profits did not meet expectations and criticized China’s film profit-sharing system as unreasonable.
Since its release on Chinese New Year’s Day on January 29th this year, “Ne Zha 2” has received extreme praise from the Chinese Communist Party, sparking a new wave of nationalism on Chinese social media platforms. The authorities have utilized nationalism to wholeheartedly support the inflated box office figures, with the military, schools, state-owned enterprises, and even internet users taking advantage of the “billion yuan subsidy” policy to buy out entire screenings at cinemas, encouraging people to attend by saying, “You bring the people, and I’ll provide the tickets.”
Despite the claim of a global box office success of 15.5 billion, a report by the Chinese media “Market Research Information” revealed that the film distributor “Huanxi Media” is still dissatisfied with the profit-sharing income of just over 5 billion.
On June 15th, at the opening forum of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival, Chairman Wang Changtian criticized the existing box office profit-sharing mechanism as severely squeezing the film’s profits and hindering the healthy development of the industry. He stated, “For a 100 yuan box office ticket, the film distributor may only receive around 38 to 39 yuan, and after deducting advertising and distribution costs, the actual profit is only about 33 yuan.” He believed that such profit-sharing was unfair and called for adjustments to benefit the production side more.
Wang Changtian’s remarks stirred controversy, with the mainland self-media “Radiant New World” firing back, stating, “Saying such things is a display of hypocritical weakness, selfishness only concerned with self-interest, and foolishness not understanding the consequences, as well as arrogant greed that is never satisfied with earning more.” They harshly criticized the “investor of ‘Ne Zha 2’ flexing their muscles… trying to completely dominate the cinemas.”
“Ne Zha 2” has been in theaters for four and a half months since the Chinese New Year, and box office sales have already started to slow down. With a global box office of 15.5 billion, it has climbed to the fifth spot in global box office history, following only “Avatar,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Avatar 2,” and “Titanic,” and this is likely its final position.