“After the heavenly lightning, although Ne Zha and Ao Bing survived by becoming Spirits, they would soon dissipate completely. Taiyi plans to rebuild Ne Zha and Ao Bing’s mortal bodies with the Seven-colored Precious Lotus. However, during the process of reconstruction, numerous obstacles arise. What will become of the fate of Ne Zha and Ao Bing?” 

This is the plot description Rotten Tomatoes gives of Ne Zha 2, the highest-grossing film of 2025 by over one billion dollars. A Chinese film, it was released in China on February 14, 2025 as the sequel to the 2019 movie Ne Zha. A smash-hit at the domestic box office, grossing $2.13 billion, A24 decided to distribute an English dub of the film in September of 2025. Featuring voices like Academy-Award winner Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and popular anime voice actor Aleks Le (Solo Leveling, Demon Slayer), it was expected that Ne Zha 2 would do well in the US.

This could not have been more untrue—it ended up pulling in only a measly $23 million.

My Thoughts on Ne Zha 2

I had the opportunity to see the English dub of Ne Zha 2 in IMAX 3D, where I saw firsthand the lack of excitement for the movie in the US. On opening weekend, in a theater meant to fit over 200 people, there were 8 of us that had all come by ourselves. I won’t lie—the first hour of the movie had me pretty confused. I think there were some cultural differences in both the story and humor, and dubbing over 3D animation always looks more awkward than 2D animation. But, I had a large popcorn I needed to finish, so I decided to stick it out.

I was very glad I did—the second half felt like a completely different movie. The characters, animation, music, and story were all incredible. My Letterboxd review ended up being 4.5/5 stars. China, I was not familiar with your movie game.

Why did Ne Zha 2 do so poorly in the USA?

It’s a sequel to a movie that Americans never saw. I haven’t even seen the first one, so I was reliant on the brief recap at the beginning of the sequel. Ne Zha released in 2019 and made $700 million in China, becoming the twelfth highest-grossing film that year. A great year for movies, Ne Zha’s success was overshadowed by Hollywood releases like Avengers: Endgame, Spiderman: Far From Home, Frozen 2, Joker, and Toy Story 4.

The marketing in the United States was also not great. The only way I even heard about Ne Zha 2 is because I like to look at box office records, and when I saw this random sequel I had never heard of at the top of the Wikipedia page for highest-grossing animated movies, I had to see what all the hype was about for myself.

Why was Ne Zha 2 such a success in China?

A lot of it had to do with the fact that it’s mostly a family-friendly movie. The more people that are able to see a movie, the more tickets that will be sold, and the more money that will be made. Timing was also helpful in its success. February is historically a dry month for movie releases, so Ne Zha 2 had virtually no competition in its theatrical run. It was also a hallmark for Chinese animation, matching the standard of Pixar movies and even surpassing in some areas. It’s no surprise that the Chinese people were eager to support a movie that had been made in their home country that included their mythology and folklore.

Here are just some of the records that Ne Zha 2 now holds:

• Highest-grossing film of 2025
• Highest-grossing animated film of all time
• Fifth highest-grossing film of all time
• First animated film to surpass $2 billion
• First non-English film to surpass $2 billion

Ne Zha 2’s power at the Chinese Box Office

The success of Ne Zha 2 showed the world just how powerful the Chinese box office truly is. When Hollywood makes big-budget films, they rely on the domestic box office first, followed closely by China’s. Avengers: Endgame had a budget of $356 million. It made $858 million in the United States, and $632 million in China. China’s box office alone would’ve been enough for the movie to profit. Third place goes to the United Kingdom at $115 million, a steep drop from the first two.

China does not have to ask “will our movie do well internationally?” in the same way the US does. Able to generate over $2 billion for one movie alone, China has proven themselves to be a powerful competitor in the film industry.