Screenwriter and director Mu Zhengyang All wishes come true! It is China’s number one box office hit of 2026, grossing more than 1.5 billion yuan (US$222 million) at the mainland Chinese box office since its release on July 18. It premiered in the United States in August.
The film is loosely based on a story that assumed its most familiar form during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1944), although the story’s roots can be traced back to Chinese history. The Eight Taoist Immortals are powerful individuals, each of whom controls some magical instrument. Over the centuries, these characters have been depicted in paintings, sculptures, murals, novels, films, and even martial arts exercises. Zhengyang’s film adds a modern touch: The Immortals are human criminals, as if the DreamWorks cast bad boys He had begun to study the nature of the Tao.
Director Zhengyang and executive producer Catherine Yin, CEO of Pearl Studio, which also produced kung fu at 3 and Abominable, spoke about his work during a recent trip to Century City. The director spoke through an interpreter; Mrs. Yin spoke English.
Animation scoop: Why do you think the story of Taoist immortals has endured for so long in Chinese culture?
Mu Zhengyang: While researching, we found many different versions of the story of the Eight Immortals. We wonder why the story has so many different versions and why it constantly evolves over the years. We think the reason is that storytellers have always tried to make the story include more ordinary people. History has become increasingly richer and more inclusive thanks to efforts to add different and common people.
AM: In more than 140 minutes, All wishes come true! It is much longer than most American animated films. Are Chinese audiences and producers more receptive to the idea of a longer animated film?
MZ: In the Chinese film market right now, animation has been leaning more and more towards live action. Audiences and producers really have no criteria for animation. For example, an animated film fits a specific era. As live action and animation become more and more similar, there is very strong competition between the two.
Catherine Yin: As Director Mu just said, in China, audiences and the market have been treating animated films more like live-action films. It’s not that a live-action movie should be two hours long and animated movies should be an hour and a half.
CY: People are so used to looking at their mobile phones, short videos, etc., that I think they expect more narrative content in a theatrical film. If the movie is only an hour and a half long, they will feel dissatisfied. If you give them two hours, or two and a half hours, of a good story, they will feel more satisfied: it was worth the price of admission.
CY: I was the person in charge of giving the green light to this project. My first priority was that it had to be a good story. There is no real limitation on how long the movie should be. We should be open and have an open mind to see what is the best format and time to support the story.
AS: Did director Mu start with a script or a storyboard? Did he storyboard the film himself?
CY: Director Mu wrote the original story and script. When we first met, I was drawn to the treatment he had written. I knew from his writings that we would turn the story into a very beautiful animated film.
MZ: I didn’t really personally develop the storyboard, but I led the team to develop it. Some Japanese animators, because their work is two-dimensional, prefer to finish it themselves. But for our work, which is a very mature, industrialized three-dimensional animation, I needed to focus my priorities elsewhere, for example, the rhythm between storyboarding and editing.
AS: Of the two main characters, Zhongli Quan starts off as a thief and a bit of a rogue; Was it a challenge to keep him understanding? On the contrary, Lu Dong-yin has very noble intentions: it is very easy for a noble character to seem boring in animation.
MZ: These two characters complete each other. Zhongli Quane seems like a thief or a thug from the beginning. But it also provides the comic elements of the first part of the film. On the contrary, Lu Dong-yin may seem a little cold and even a little boring. But there is a balance between the two. The relationship between the two of them also references literature: Zhongli Quan was the person who inspired Lu Dong-bin to become an Immortal.
AS: There are many exciting action sequences in the film with complex camera movements and elaborate special effects…
ZM: The fighting moves are so elegant because we were inspired by traditional kung fu moves, which are really beautiful. When we were developing the camera movements and the character movements, we wanted them to have the feeling that the characters were ordinary people. They are not people with superpowers fighting each other. But they continue to do it for their mission, which reflects their bravery and good will.
AS: Would you ever be interested in making a two-dimensional film?
ZM: I look forward to it. But in China there are not many people who are still working on 2D films.
CY: A lot is done in CG and fewer and fewer people in China do 2D animation. I know as a studio executive, it’s very, very difficult to find people who can actually do it. Sometimes you have to go to Japan to find people who can draw it.
CY: The beginning of our film is two-dimensional. The director insisted on doing this part in 2D. It only lasts about a minute, but it was very, very difficult to do.