Jul 6, 2023

The historical epic "Changan" is set for a huge Chinese opening weekend after a strong preview.

Chinese animation Epic Changan was released widely in its native territory this weekend, after it impressed with preview3.2 million dollars in preview sales last weekend, Dai

Changan is a Beijing-based studio with an impressive reputation for making films that blend high-quality animation with Chinese traditional culture and mythology It is produced by Light Chaser Animation. Other films produced by the studio include White Snake, Green Snake, New Gods films Nezha Reborn and Yang Jian.

Set during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Chang'an is based on the interwoven life stories of the legendary poets Gao Shi and Li Bai, the latter being one of China's most famous poets to date. In the capital of Chang'an, a few years later the Lushan rebellion, Tang general Gao Shi, tells the vast story of his lifelong friendship with Li Bai to the army chief eunuch.

One of Light Chaser's most ambitious films to date, Changan clocks in at 168 minutes, making it one of the longest Chinese animation features ever. According to director Zou Jing, the production pushed the Light Chaser crew to the limit, creating a veritable capital where much of the story is told.

In an interview with China Pictorial, Zou Jing discussed the practical challenges faced when presenting the story on screen.

The biggest challenge we faced was to determine how to present the impressive prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. Before the production began, our team studied historical materials, read extensively about the culture of the Tang Dynasty and the life of poets, and studied the customs and rituals of the time. We invited experts from different fields to guide us to make sure the content was accurate and reliable, and also thoroughly learned about the poetry of this film. Our team wanted to adopt the typical audiovisual language and performance design for the animation, making the most of the animation-based imagination and displaying poetic scenes with the greatest features of the East.

Changan mixes history and mythology held together by many classic poems of its real-life characters. According to Zou Jing, animation made it possible.

In this film, animation empowered us with a powerful means of expression to present Chinese poetry culture in a more impressive way, so that the audience could better resonate with the poet's poetic mood and artistic conception.

Changan is set as the first in a series of new cultural films that Light Chaser is planning to produce. "The new culture series is based on real historical figures in China. This is the core of the series.”