Netflix Picks Up 'New Gods: Nezha Reborn' Streaming Rights, Announces DOTA: Dragon's Blood

Chinese animation is on the rise. Recent Chinese-made animated features have been massive hits in their native market. They have out-grossed not only animated features from the US and Japan but also live-action movies. With China one of the largest cinema markets in the world, some of their biggest animated hits have made it among the top grossing films of the year before they even opened outside the Middle Kingdom.

The latest animated movie to hit China was released over the past weekends' Lunar New Year Holiday. New Gods: Nezha Reborn is the newest film from Light Chaser Animation,  producers of White Snake.  Netflix have announced that they have picked up the international streaming rights to the film.

New Gods is taken from the same Chinese mythology that inspired the 2019 film Ne-Zha, which became China's highest-grossing animated film of all-time, and the country's second highest-grossing film full-stop.While Chengdu Coco Cartoons' film was a fairly straight adaptation of the legend, Light Chaser decided to bring the story up to date with a sci-fi spin, in an effort to bring new excitement to China's mythology.

The film reunites the crew behind White Snake, including director Zhao Ji. It features the voices of Yang Tianxiang, Xuan Xiaoming, Ling Zhenhe, Zhu Ke’er and Li Shimeng. 

Set in a mythical world, Donghai City, a melting pot where gods and people from different cultures co-exist, Nezha is reborn as Li Yunxiang, a young daredevil, 3000 years after the original Battle of the Gods. Yunxiang grows up as a cool regular boy, who earns his living as a delivery courier. His love for motor racing and adventure prevail even as he discovers his true identity as Nezha. Yunxiang encounters his mortal enemies, the Dragon Clan, who are now living as super wealthy businessmen, feared and revered in Donghai City. Boss De, the Dragon King of the East China Sea or The Patriarch of the Dragon Clan, vows to revitalise the Dragon Clan in the new world. He is accompanied in this film by his three sons, The Three Princes, who are intent on killing Nezha to avenge their clan.

Light Chaser's pre-White Snake feature Little Door Gods is also streaming on Netflix, in its US edit The Guardian Brothers.

Netflix have also revealed an 8-episode animated series adapted from the popular video game DOTA 2 from Valve. DOTA: Dragon's Blood was produced by Studio Mir, the South Korean outfit responsible for animating Avatar: The Last Airbender, Kora and Voltron: Legendary Defender. Ashley Edward Miller, who has previous writing credits for Thor, Fringe and X-men First Class, is the Show-Runner and executive producer.

The series will focus on Davion, a renowned Dragon Knight who has devoted himself to wiping out the Scourge from the world. Running into the noble Princess Mirana,  Davion becomes caught up in events much bigger than he could have imagined.

DOTA Dragon's Blood will be available on Netflix worldwide from March 25.