Ne Zha 2: The Animated Blockbuster Shattering Records and Disney’s Reign

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  • ‘Ne Zha 2‘ Obliterates Box Office Records
  • The Future of Animation?

What factors contribute to a film becoming one of the highest-earning movies ever in the U.S.? Typically, it’s films based on Marvel, Avatar, Star Wars, or Disney/Pixar franchises that dominate the top spots. It’s also simple to forecast when a new movie is expected to make a substantial amount of money. However, an animated Chinese film is challenging conventional wisdom about high-grossing movies.

The animated sequel “Ne Zha 2” has broken multiple box office records in the three weeks since its release on February 20, 2025. As of now, it stands as the highest-grossing animated film, Chinese film, and non-English language film ever made, earning an astonishing $1.7 billion. This places it eighth among all films in terms of box office revenue. Interestingly, many American audiences were unaware of “Ne Zha 2” until its earnings were announced, indicating its massive success is largely due to its strong performance within its home country, China. The question remains: what factors contributed to its rapid rise in popularity? And how many more records might it topple in the future?

‘Ne Zha 2’ Obliterates Box Office Records

As someone who has followed the cinematic journey, let me share some insights about the upcoming film, Ne Zha 2. Given its title, it’s clear that this is a follow-up to the 2019 release, Ne Zha. The initial movie was inspired by the 16th-century novel, Investiture of the Gods, and served as both the director’s and animation studio’s debut in features. Notably, it became the first Chinese animated film to be released in IMAX, and its global earnings reached a staggering $742 million, making it a critical and commercial success. Given this impressive track record, it’s unsurprising that they decided to create a sequel!

In contrast to many big-budget CGI-animated films from the U.S., “Ne Zha 2” was produced for approximately 600 million Chinese yuan, or around $83 million US dollars. Interestingly, despite this lower budget, audience interest in the sequel surged, with it earning 1.1 billion yuan within three days of its January 29, 2025 release – equivalent to about $150 million US. By day nine following its release, the film’s earnings had skyrocketed to a staggering 6 billion yuan or approximately $825 million US. The success of the “Ne Zha” franchise is often attributed to its unique storytelling methods that blend traditional Chinese values with contemporary cinematic techniques. On February 13, “Ne Zha 2” set a new record by becoming the highest-grossing film in a single territory (as reported by Deadline), surpassing the $936 million earned by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in the U.S. alone with its earnings of $1.37 billion or 10 billion yuan.

By February 17, the global earnings of the movie “Ne Zha 2” have surpassed approximately 12 billion yuan or $1.7 billion, making it the eighth highest-grossing film in history. This is an impressive feat as it’s both the top ranking for an animated and a non-US production. With its current trajectory, there’s little doubt that “Ne Zha 2” will be the first animated movie to reach $2 billion. This news might have Disney feeling quite upset. However, one wonders how much higher it could climb.

What This Means for the Future of Animation

Disney Typically Dominates the World of Animated Films

Beyond the already smashed box office records, Ne Zha 2 is aiming for significantly more. Currently, it’s just under $600 million away from surpassing Avatar: The Way of Water, a feat that would propel it into third place. From there, reaching the heights of Avengers: Endgame‘s ($2.8 billion) and the original Avatar‘s ($2.9 billion) box office totals seems like a distant dream. However, Ne Zha 2 is already more than halfway there, having earned $1.7 billion in just three weeks. With continued success in the coming weeks and months, it could potentially overtake Avatar, making history as the first film to reach the elusive $3 billion milestone. Many thought this level of box office success for a single film was unattainable with the decline of big-name tentpole films, but Ne Zha 2 could prove them wrong.

One demonstration illustrates the widespread appeal of foreign films: Many American viewers were unaware that Ne Zha 2 existed until it had already surpassed $1 billion in earnings. Contrary to this belief, the movie performed fairly well in the United States. It premiered in Los Angeles on February 12 and earned $7.2 million during its opening weekend at 660 cinemas. The film gained more traction among American audiences when it dethroned Inside Out 2 as the world’s highest-grossing animated movie.

This development signifies an unwelcome landmark for Disney, since their movies have not held the position of highest-grossing animated film more than once previously. Their initial achievement was with the world’s first animated movie, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” in 1937. A Disney or Pixar production has always been at the pinnacle since then, except for a brief period when DreamWorks’ “Shrek 2” reigned supreme from 2004 to 2010. However, if “Ne Zha 2” manages to exceed $2 billion in earnings, it seems likely that Disney might never regain the title of top-grossing animated film again.

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2025-02-23 00:03