Ne Zha begins hunt for Oscar glory with Academy screening

The box-office-busting Chinese animated film, Ne Zha, selected as the Chinese mainland's official Academy Award submission this year, had its first official academy screening on Wednesday, playing to a theater packed with members of the Hollywood guild and the academy.

Ne Zha is among a record-breaking total of 93 films competing for best international feature film at the 92nd Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. The film is also one of the top international contenders in the animated feature film category.

Ne Zha, adapted from an ancient Chinese myth, is the top-grossing animated film ever made in China and currently sits second on the overall box-office chart for films ever screened on the Chinese mainland. So far, the unexpected hit has grossed more than $700 million worldwide.

The film is the brain child of Yang Yu (stage name Jiao Zi), a young pharmacist-turned-animation writer-director, who teamed up with writer-producer, Yi Qiao, CEO of the animation startup Coloroom Pictures, to make a unique and compelling film that has pushed Chinese animation into the global spotlight.

"I was surprised and honored that our film was selected. I hadn't expected the audience to be so receptive. Our film broke animation stereotypes and our selection was another kind of a breakthrough," Yi says.

The homegrown animation features a popular young hero from ancient Chinese legends and classics such as Journey to the West. In the story, Ne Zha, born with unique powers, finds himself an outcast that is hated and feared. Destined by prophecy to devastate the world, the boy must choose between good and evil to break the shackles of fate and become the hero he wants to be.

Official Oscar screenings are held to enable all Academy of Motion Picture members and other Hollywood guild members, like directors, actors, cinematographers and editors, to be able to see and judge the film for themselves before voting.

The responses of viewers on Wednesday was enthusiastic, with many who were interviewed saying they would vote for Ne Zha.

"It was fantastic, superb, crazy over-the-top!" according to Arnold Schwartzman, the Academy Award-winning documentarian of Genocide, who started out in animation before moving into documentaries.