China Big Fish & Begonia returned 18.7× its production cost, earning $84.6M against a $4.5M budget — one of the highest-return China films in our catalog.
Synopsis
大鱼海棠
“Two worlds. One destiny.”
Beyond the human realm, there is a magical race of beings who control the tides and the changing of the seasons. One of these beings, a young girl named Chun, seeks something more—she wants to experience the human world! At sixteen, she finally gets her chance and transforms into a dolphin in order to explore the world that has her fascinated. But she soon discovers that it's a dangerous place and nearly gets killed in a vortex. Luckily, her life is spared when a young boy sacrifices himself to save her. Moved by his kindness and courage, she uses magic to bring him back to life only to learn that this power comes at a serious price. On a new adventure, she’ll have to make her own sacrifices in order to protect his soul until it is ready to return to the human world.
Audience Engagement
413 audience reviews — more than 91% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 77th percentile among China films.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 41m runtime, production spent $45K per minute on screen and earned $837K per minute back.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Big Fish & Begonia. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
5 sharedDemon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train
★ 8.3 · Japan
4 sharedHer Blue Sky
★ 7.1 · Japan
4 sharedFate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II. Lost Butterfly
★ 6.9 · Japan
4 sharedanohana: The Flower We Saw That Day – The Movie
★ 7.5 · Japan
3 sharedYour Name.
★ 8.5 · Japan
3 sharedA Silent Voice: The Movie
★ 8.4 · Japan
Animation + Adventure in China
46 China titles in our catalog blend the Animation and Adventure genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Big Fish & Begonia itself).
Other Titles From Studio Mir
The 2015–2017 China Window
Big Fish & Begonia holds position #32 of 191 China films in the 2015–2017 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2010s China Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2010s in China, 515 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Big Fish & Begonia premiered alongside 61 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 61 other China films in 2016.
The 443rd China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Big Fish & Begonia, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- human animal relationship · 5
- non-human protagonist · 1
- animal transformation · 1
- self sacrifice · 8
- ocean · 6
- anime · 711
- adult animation · 101
- romance · 94
- supernatural · 89
- magic · 84
- coming of age · 78
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #206 of 946 China films indexed here (78th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.7 points above the China average of 6.7/10.
Among China Animation productions specifically: #36 of 97 (top 37%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Production Companies | Studio Mir, Beijing Enlight Pictures, Horgos Coloroom Pictures |
| Runtime | 1h 41m |
| Release Date | July 8, 2016 |
| IMDb | tt1920885 |
| Official Site | bigfishandbegoniamovie.com |