In a box office performance worth studying, the Chinese mega-hit Ne Zha 2 has now achieved a historic feat, just 21 days after its debut. The animated sequel opened during the lucrative Chinese New Year period, and has been breaking records every day. It generated around $22 million on its third Tuesday in its home country of China, which represents the biggest-ever third Tuesday haul in a single market. And thanks to the advance sales that it has already registered for Wednesday, the film is on track to deliver its biggest win yet.
Ne Zha 2 is passing the $1.7 billion mark as we speak, which makes it the highest-grossing animated film of all time. On its way to achieving this feat, the movie overtook Inside Out 2’s $1.69 billion haul from just last year. That film generated over $1 billion from international markets and more than $600 million from domestic theaters. What’s remarkable is that Ne Zha 2 has earned upwards of $1.68 billion from China alone. It’s by far the highest-grossing Chinese movie of all time, the highest-grossing film in a single territory, and the first non-Hollywood film to hit $1 billion worldwide.
During the course of its run, Ne Zha 2 overtook landmark animated films such as Frozen II, The Lion King, and Toy Story 3. The film’s $1.7 billion global haul, which also includes around $9 million from domestic theaters, makes it one of the 10 highest-grossing films of all time. Ne Zha 2 has now overtaken Jurassic World to claim the eighth spot on the all-time list. The Chinese platform Maoyan is predicting a final China gross of over $2 billion, which would automatically make it one of the five highest-grossing films in history.
‘Ne Zha 2′ Is Competing With the Biggest Hollywood Franchises

In the next few days, Ne Zha 2 may very well overtake both Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Avengers: Infinity War at the global box office. It’ll ultimately find itself in the company of three James Cameron blockbusters — Avatar, Titanic, and Avatar: The Way of Water — and Avengers: Endgame, all of which grossed over $2.2 billion worldwide. Produced on a reported budget of $80 million, Ne Zha 2 doesn’t have an official critics’ rating on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes yet, although its near-perfect 99% audience score on the platform has earned it a “verified hot” badge. You can watch Ne Zha 2 in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Ne Zha 2

Release Date

January 29, 2025

Runtime

144 minutes

Director

Yang Yu

Writers

Yang Yu

Producers

Liu Wenzhang

Lü Yanting

Young Nezha (voice)

Joseph

Youth Nezha/Jie Jie Shou Zuo (voice)