Box office history has somewhat quietly been made. That is, for anyone who lives outside of China. The Chinese animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” has been on a tear in its native country all year, and has been easily the biggest movie of 2025 globally since early February. Amazingly enough, there’s a good chance it will hold the crown for the rest of the calendar year too. That’s because director Yu Yang’s breakout sequel just passed the $2 billion mark a little over a month into its theatrical run.
As of Tuesday, March 4, “Ne Zha 2” had collected $2 billion globally, passing 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.95 billion) on the all-time worldwide charts. It is now just the seventh film ever to cross the $2 billion mark, joining “Avengers: Infinity War” ($2.05 billion), “The Force Awakens” ($2.07 billion), “Titanic” ($2.26 billion), “Avatar: The Way of Water” ($2.32 billion), “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.79 billion), and “Avatar” ($2.92 billion). When all’s said and done, “Ne Zha 2” is likely to sit behind “Titanic” or “Avatar: The Way of Water” in the number four or three spot.
To make this all even more remarkable, “Ne Zha 2” did this by making the vast majority of its money in one country. In mid-February, it made history by becoming the first movie to ever gross at least $1 billion in a single country. Yes, it has been released outside of China, but those numbers are drops of water in a bucket, comparatively. The animated sequel has done decent business in the U.S. bringing in $18.1 million to date. But again, that’s a fractional percentage of the film’s overall gross. China alone is doing the heavy-lifting here.