The Chinese animated feature Ne Zha 2 has become the first film to gross over US$1 billion in a single market ever, according to Deadline Hollywood. The fantasy-drama achieved this feat in just just eight days and five hours, China Daily reported.
The film, a sequel based on characters from Chinese mythology and directed by Jiaozi (also known as Yang Yu), is also the first non-Hollywood movie to join the billion-dollar club and – it goes without saying – the highest grossing film in China’s movie-making history.
Ne Zha 2 was released in mainland theatres on 29 January, coinciding its run with the Lunar New Year holiday. It will open overseas next week, including in the US, Canada and Australia.
The ticketing platform Maoyan has forecast that the blockbuster will ultimately rake in US$1.99 billion in China alone, Xinhua has reported. That – without taking international earnings into account – would already position it as the 7th highest grossing film of all time, according to figures published by Statista.
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The top three highest grossing movies of all time are currently Avatar (2009) at US$2.92 billion, Avengers: Endgame (2019) at US$2.8billion and Avatar: The Way of the Water (2022) at US$2.32, Statista’s figures show.
China’s previous highest grossing film was The Battle of Lake Chongjin (2021), about the Korean War in the 1950s. It earned about US$900 million.
China Daily described Ne Zha 2 as “not just a box office titan but a cultural phenomenon, further underscoring China’s ability to produce homegrown blockbusters that strike a chord with domestic audiences.”
The film follows Ne Zha (2019), which was based loosely on the plot of a 16th-century novel, Investiture of the Gods, attributed to Xu Zhonglin.
