‘Ne Zha 2’ shatters records with $1B in 10 days at China’s box office

By Linh Le February 13, 2025 | 03:18 pm PT

The fantasy animation “Ne Zha 2” has set a new record in China by earning 7.7 billion yuan (US$1.05 billion) within its first 10 days of release.

A still cut in the 2019 film "Ne Zha." Photo from Ne Zha movie's Weibo

According to Bloomberg, this figure was confirmed by Maoyan, a leading Chinese ticketing platform. Released on Jan. 29, "Ne Zha 2" has surpassed the previous record-holder, the 2021 war drama "The Battle At Lake Changjin," and demoted the original "Ne Zha," released in 2019, to fifth place on China’s all-time earnings list.

Variety reports that this surge has made "Ne Zha 2" the world’s highest-grossing film in a single market, previously held by "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which earned US$936.7 million in North America in 2015.

Another Bloomberg report highlighted that shares of Beijing Enlight Media, the film’s distributor, increased by up to the 20% daily limit on Wednesday, with total gains exceeding 140% since the market reopened after the Lunar New Year holiday, boosting the company’s market value by nearly 40 billion yuan.

The "Ne Zha" franchise is inspired by the 16th-century Chinese novel "Investiture of the Gods," and had a production budget of 600 million yuan, as reported by Chinese media outlet Sina.