How Ne Zha 2 became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time

Chinese animated adventure Ne Zha 2 recently dethroned Inside Out 2 to become the highest-grossing animated movie ever made. It has also overtaken the worldwide total posted by Avengers: Infinity War and is closing in on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Those are incredible numbers for a film that, if you're reading this in the UK, you won't have even had a chance to see.

The good news for British audiences is that distributor CineAsia has announced that the movie is coming to UK cinemas on 14 March. It's doing so after smashing through a raft of box office records, including being the first film to cross $1bn (£774m) in a single market thanks to its remarkable performance in China. It surpassed Inside Out 2's lifetime gross of $1.7bn (£1.3bn) in just three weeks.

But what actually is Ne Zha 2 and why has it become such a global hit? Well, as the title suggests, it's a sequel to the 2019 film Ne Zha, which followed a young boy torn between using his remarkable powers for good or evil. This sequel follows the reconstruction of Ne Zha's body as he attempts to tackle a crisis threatening the future of humanity.

On the face of it, this all seems like pretty standard fare for an animated adventure — hardly the material for a box office unicorn. But Ne Zha 2 has benefited from a number of coalescing successes that have driven it to the top of the global pile. Firstly, China is in the midst of a real movie industry purple patch. At the time of writing, five of the 10 highest-grossing 2025 films worldwide are from China. The Ne Zha story is also inspired by a 16th century novel, Investiture of the Gods, with a big cultural footprint in China.

Read more: Ne Zha 2 Passes $2 Billion, Climbs to 6th in All-Time Imax Rankings (Variety, 2 min read)

Reviews have also been positive. There are only seven reviews listed for Ne Zha 2 on Rotten Tomatoes as things stand — the site skews towards English-speaking, western critics — but all of them enjoyed the movie. Chinese critics have also praised the film, with particular excitement around the epic feel of the action.

Its release was also smartly carried out. The film hit cinemas in late January, on the first day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, to catch audiences with time to burn over the holiday. Fans had also waited a long time since the 2019 release of Ne Zha. Just as with Inside Out, nostalgia provided a boost.

Watch: Trailer for Ne Zha 2

What followed was something of a perfect storm. Online buzz around the film was universally excellent — reportedly, China's famously potent internet filter has hidden negative commentary — and there were also reports online of people struggling to get tickets, thereby only making it seem more like a must-see. The film became tied into the enormous pride among Chinese people around the country's current film industry, with that buzz spreading to the Chinese diaspora elsewhere in the world.

Read more: Chinese animated blockbuster breaks records, prompts patriotism (AFP, 3 min read)

As with any cultural phenomenon, merchandising has been an enormous part of cultivating and enhancing the success of Ne Zha 2. The film has been a first ever cinema trip for young audiences, who have subsequently encouraged their parents to spend a fortune on action figures, dolls, posters, and all sorts of other paraphernalia connected to the movie and its eye-catching visual style. Official, branded merchandise clocked up 400 million yuan (£43m) within two weeks.

All of these factors have coincided to turn Ne Zha 2 into a box office sensation in its Chinese homeland, which has also wowed audiences elsewhere in the world. But it's that Chinese identity that has been particularly important, as Stanley Rosen — a political science and international relations professor at USC — told Variety. He said: “Since Ne Zha 2 is now competing with Hollywood films for records, it has become a duty to promote and support the film. It’s become a litmus test of whether you’re patriotic or not.”

Read more: Ne Zha 2 Review: Chinese Blockbuster Is Visually Engaging, But Its Elaborate Plot Is A Challenge (Deadline, 4 min read)

It remains to be seen how much business Ne Zha 2 can do in the UK and Europe — though there's certainly room at the multiplex for it to carve out a space — but its status as a bona fide phenomenon has already been assured by its performance on home soil. When it comes to blockbuster animated success, it's not just a Hollywood story any more.

Ne Zha 2 is in UK cinemas from 14 March.