While a host of American movies attracted attention this past week following the 97th Academy Awards, the Chinese mega-hit Ne Zha 2 continued its record-breaking theatrical run. The film debuted during the lucrative Chinese New Year period, where it delivered the biggest opening weekend haul in history for an animated film. Ne Zha 2 became only the seventh film ever to hit the $2 billion mark in global box office revenue, with the vast majority of that total coming from the Middle Kingdom, where it’s the highest-grossing hit of all time by a margin of over $1 billion.

This weekend, after playing in theaters for over a month, Ne Zha 2 passed Avengers: Infinity War’s $2.04 billion lifetime global haul to become the sixth-biggest hit in global box office history. It will also pass Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $2.05 billion lifetime haul before the end of its run to become one of the five biggest hits ever released. When the dust settles, Ne Zha 2 will find itself in elite company — James Cameron’s Titanic, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Avatar, and Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. Avatar remains the highest-grossing film of all time, with nearly $3 billion in global box office revenue.

Over the course of its landmark run, Ne Zha 2 emerged as the biggest hit of 2025, and the biggest animated movie of all time. To achieve this feat, it overtook Inside Out 2’s $1.7 billion haul. The Pixar hit had claimed the title only a few months ago. Ne Zha 2 cost less than half of that film — it was produced on a reported budget of $80 million, while Inside Out 2 cost a reported $200 million to produce. In the post-pandemic era, most studios have been restricting budgets for animated movies to under $100 million. Blockbusters such as Despicable Me 4, Minions, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie all came in under this figure.

‘Ne Zha 2’ Holds a 99% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes

Another shift has been observed in the theatrical landscape recently; the Chinese market, which relied heavily on American movies not too long ago, has become mostly self-sustaining in recent years. While there have been a handful of Hollywood hits that have managed to break through in China — Venom: The Last Dance and Jurassic World Dominion come to mind — most American movies appear to have limited appeal in China these days. This has opened the doors for films such as Ne Zha 2 to shine. The movie was beloved by audiences, and currently holds a “certified hot” 99% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

via Collider