Yu Shui was well pleased with the $215 million his most recent feature, Nobody, earned at the Chinese box office last year — but the animator freely admits to bigger global ambitions.
Spurred by the runaway success of Ne Zha 2 — whose $2.2 billion worldwide haul made it the biggest animated hit of all time — Yu and his contemporaries are keen to broaden their horizons.
“We hope to promote our culture abroad, allowing more people to see and understand it, and ultimately achieve shared human values — this is our ultimate goal,” he said. “American animated films definitely have this advantage, both in terms of content and distribution networks. China has also done quite well in recent years, with films like Ne Zha, and earlier Chinese films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, which are very well-known worldwide — even Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love is a film that can be understood and loved by many. This is a timeless topic. I will consider this aspect in my next production.”
Yu was speaking on the sidelines of the Shanghai International Film Festival, where he is serving on the Golden Goblet animation jury alongside chair Will Becher of Aardman (A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon) and groundbreaking Indian animator Gitanjali Rao (Bombay Rose).
