{"id":528583,"date":"2026-03-09T09:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/528583\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T09:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T09:54:16","slug":"hot-pot-loving-nba-star-serves-up-first-animated-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/528583\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot pot-loving NBA star serves up first animated film"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Goat, a new animated film set to open on the Chinese mainland on March 14, recounts the underdog story of Will Harris, a talented goat.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] <\/p>\n

Stephen Curry, the four-time NBA champion who reshaped basketball with his 3-point shot, has added a new role to his resume \u2014 one that may soon have his Chinese fans cheering for him in local theaters.<\/p>\n

For the first time in his career, Curry serves as a producer of an animated film. The project, Goat, the latest release from Sony Pictures Animation, is set to open across Chinese mainland on March 14.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, a preview screening of the film was held in downtown Beijing, where the venue was decorated with several iconic elements from the story \u2014 chief among them, a basketball hoop.<\/p>\n

Set in an all-animal world \u2014 where creatures, whether predators or prey, live side by side just as humans do \u2014 the sports-action fable introduces a wild game called “roarball”. With a court and rules similar to basketball, the sport requires players to conquer a series of natural obstacles \u2014 from writhing vines to cracking sheets of ice \u2014 while striving to score.<\/p>\n

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A preview screening of the upcoming animated film
\n Goat, is held in Beijing on Saturday, drawing enthusiasts to celebrate in their own way.\u00a0[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] <\/p>\n

Its protagonist, Will Harris, is a goat who has nurtured a dream of becoming a great “baller” since childhood. After unexpectedly becoming an internet celebrity thanks to a viral video featuring him facing off against a professional Andalusian horse player, Harris is recruited by the owner of the Vineland Thorns \u2014 a celebrated team boasting his idol, black panther Jett Fillmore as a player. Their fates intertwine, and an underdog story begins to unfold.<\/p>\n

Curry, who appeared in a video message following the Beijing screening, said he was captivated by the story just like the audience \u2014 both as a producer and as the voice of Lenny Williamson, a veteran roarball player and giraffe.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stephen Curry, the four-time NBA champion, serves as the film’s producer and the voice of one of the characters.\u00a0[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] <\/p>\n

Having visited China seven times over the past decade, Curry said he misses the country \u2014 adding that he particularly craves hot pot and spicy crawfish, two iconic local dishes.<\/p>\n

Tyree Dillihay, who co-directed the film with Adam Rosette, described Goat as a generation-defining underdog story, noting that great sports films are emotional, inspirational and transcendent.<\/p>\n

He added that the film’s humor \u2014 stemming from the sight of rhinos, polar bears and a tiny goat dribbling and dunking with oversized bling and signature sneakers \u2014 made him laugh from the very beginning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goat, a new animated film set to open on the Chinese mainland on March 14, recounts the underdog…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-528583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}