Ne Zha 2 Takes Box Offices by Storm

Tiffany Sun

April 11, 2025

Climbing up in the ranks like wildfire, the Chinese animated movie Ne Zha 2 has become the 5th highest-grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing animated film in the world, bringing the Chinese film industry to an unprecedented level of recognition and success. Ne Zha 2 has earned a whopping ¥15,600,000,000, which is more than 2 billion USD, topping Frozen 2, Inside Out 2, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Ne Zha 2 is the sequel movie to Ne Zha, which was also very well received and popular amongst the Chinese community. These movies are inspired by the Chinese mythology of Ne Zha, who is a teenage god brought up by human parents. Legend goes that the military commander Li Jing’s wife had been pregnant for 3 and a half years, with their 3rd son, Ne Zha, still yet to be born. On the night before birth, a Daoist deity visited his wife in her dreams, blessing Ne Zha. However, Ne Zha’s parents at first mistook him for a demon because of his abnormal shape—he’d emerged as a round ball—which is depicted in the first movie. Ne Zha is later taken apprentice under TaiYi ZhenRen and becomes a deity himself.

Ne Zha’s suspicious demonlike characteristics are fully fleshed out in the 1st movie, as the movie tells of how Ne Zha was supposed to be blessed by the Spirit Pearl—one half of the Chaos Pearl, the other half being the Demon Orb; however, antagonistic forces in the background swapped the Pearl for the Demon Orb, and Ne Zha was birthed with a demon curse. Through fate, Ne Zha meets Ao Bing, the boy who was ultimately birthed with the blessing of the Spirit Pearl, and a friendship forms. However, as the nature and schemes behind their births are revealed, tensions grow and conflict breaks out, threatening their blossoming connection.

Ne Zha 2 accounts how Ne Zha embarks on a journey to obtain an elixir to restore his friend Ao Bing’s physical body. However, cunning enemies, unexpected loyalties, and heartwrenching losses altogether captivate the audience’s hearts, leaving them wanting more. Additionally, the stunning and high-end graphics that incorporate traditional Chinese artistic elements, such as certain color combinations and symbols, leave the audience in awe. It truly is an animation masterpiece, making the 6-year wait worthwhile.

Only time can tell whether Ne Zha 2 will be surpassed as the highest-grossing animated film the world has seen, but undoubtedly, it can be said that this movie has trailblazed a way for the Chinese film industry and the animation world at large, just like how Ne Zha himself, on his fire wheels, burned a path through the heaven courts and demon dungeons.