Summary

Ne Zha 2 surpassed Inside Out 2's global box office record in just 23 days.
Ne Zha 2 achieved a record-breaking $1.73 billion gross in a single market, China.
Ne Zha 2's success was boosted by Captain America's poor performance, positioning the film to compete with Hollywood giants.

It’s not quite a happy day for Disney and Pixar executives. Inside Out 2’s five-month-long reign as the biggest animation of all time has been cut short by an increasingly popular Chinese animation sequel: Ne Zha 2.

Inside Out 2 was released on June 14, 2024, and took global audiences on another wild ride inside Riley Andersen’s teenage mind and her not-so-agreeing personified emotions. With a global box office haul of $1.69 billion, it became an unprecedented hit for Disney and Pixar, defying the odds to become not just the highest-grossing animated film ever, but the highest-grossing movie of 2024—unbeaten by even Deadpool & Wolverine—and doubling the $858 million gross of its predecessor.

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By Matthew Wilkinson

Ne Zha 2 Has Grossed $1.73 Billion in 23 Days

…and It Did So in a Single Market

Inside Out 2 achieved its surprising record in September 2024. Five months later, it has been handed the shortest reign atop the animation genre’s all-time box office charts by Ne Zha 2. According to box office analyst, Luiz Fernando on X, the Chinese juggernaut ousted the Pixar animation after hitting $1.71 billion in its 21st day in Chinese theaters; it currently stands as $1.73 billion as of the time of this writing. Ne Zha 2 beat Inside Out 2’s record while mostly showing in a single market: China.

Captain America: Brave New World’s disastrous performance in China is helping Ne Zha 2

Although it was granted a very limited showing in the U.S., with just 660 theatres, the film grossed $10 million in 6 days, which is a record for Chinese releases and the 18th highest for a non-English animation in the market. Ne Zha 2’s record goes beyond the animation genre. It is the first and only movie to hit the $1 billion threshold in a single market, after besting Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $936 million domestic gross and is already on track to become the first non-Hollywood film to reach $2 billion.

The “Ne Zha” folklore—about an unruly demon boy who fights dragons—has always been insanely popular with the Chinese audience, evident in the $742 million gross of Ne Zha in 2019. Captain America: Brave New World’s disastrous performance in China (grossing a mere $12 million in its first week and finishing fifth) aided Ne Zha 2’s ballooning by leaving it with virtually no competition at the box office.

News of Ne Zha 2’ s prominent rise is already permeating Hollywood and the general audience of the English-speaking world, leaving ears curious to know how a non-Hollywood animation is making so much. It’s already instilling national pride in its home audiences, who are rallying their immense population to push the film past Avatar's record of $2.8 billion. That may seem far-fetched at first glance, but by the time it reaches $2 billion—which analysts think could come as early as next week—the entirely Chinese-made animation may likely start to put fear in the chart-topping trio of Avatar, Avengers: Endgame and Avatar: The Way of Water, if it isn’t already. Ne Zha 2 is currently the eighth highest-grossing film of all time, displacing Inside Out 2, and could move up the ladder very fast. Could Pixar do the unthinkable with Inside Out 3?