Poster of the animated movie Ne Zha
"Ne Zha", the first Chinese IMAX animated film, got an one-month extension on theater.
BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's top-grossing animated film "Ne Zha" has received an extended run of one month until Sept. 26 in Chinese mainland theaters, according to the movie's official Weibo account.
Loosely based on the tale of Nezha, a mythological figure from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel "Fengshen Yanyi," or "The Investiture of the Gods," the film grossed a total of 3.82 billion yuan (542 million U.S. dollars) in the 21 days since its July 26 debut on the Chinese mainland, data from the China Movie Data Information Network showed Friday.
As of Thursday, "Ne Zha" ranked fourth on the box office chart covering all the films ever screened on the Chinese mainland, behind only "Wolf Warrior 2," "The Wandering Earth" and "Avengers: Endgame," according to the network.
Directed by 38-year-old Yang Yu, who goes by the nickname Jiaozi, the film depicted Nezha as a mischievous boy with cute and ugly features instead of the attractive young figure that appeared in recent remakes.
In the Yang Yu film, Nezha was positioned as a lovably defiant underdog character who has to overcome prejudice and his dark fate to become a hero.
