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).
With the global animation market now estimated at around $460 billion — and recent international hits including the Netflix smash KPop Demon Hunters and Oscar winner Flow — the trio said they had been spending their down time watching and discussing one another’s work and debating the industry’s shifting landscape.
Rao — who revealed that In the Mood for Love first inspired her to become a filmmaker — believes animators are increasingly drawn to stories that travel.
“I have realized that we must reach a global audience,” she said. “If we want Western audiences to understand, we must simplify our stories. So, over the years, we’ve all known what British humor and American humor are, but the world needs a moment where people can understand what Chinese humor and Indian humor are. Now that we’re so globalized, we don’t need to explain every detail.”
Rao’s debut feature, Bombay Rose, premiered in International Critics’ Week at Venice in 2019 before finding an international audience on Netflix.
“When I tell stories, I often present them layer by layer,” she explained. “There might be a layer that any audience in the world can understand, or a layer that might be easier for Chinese people to understand, or a layer with a satirical undertone that not all audiences need to grasp. But the story must have a richness across these layers.”
Becher and Aardman achieved genuine global reach with A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon — an estimated 80 percent of its $43 million total came from outside the U.K. — despite its distinctly British sensibility.
“Before a film’s release, you don’t really know how well it will be received; some films are very successful, while others are not,” he said. “However, Shaun the Sheep resonated widely and was welcomed by a broad audience. It’s a very authentic British production, but we know there’s cultural satire in other places. Comedy actually shares many commonalities in terms of culture.”
