China’s animated blockbuster smashed box office records at home. Now it’s hitting Western cinemas

An unruly Chinese boy who battles dragons and defies destiny has made his way to Western cinema screens after smashing box office records in China.

“Ne Zha 2,” an animated blockbuster loosely based on Chinese mythology, is now the world’s highest-grossing movie of all time in a single market, racking up a staggering $1.4 billion in ticket sales in China since its January 29 release.

It dwarfs the previous record held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which netted $936 million in the United States and Canada in 2015. The Chinese production is also the first non-Hollywood film to break into the all-time global top 20 of highest-grossing films.

The phenomenal success of “Ne Zha 2” – a rare bright spot in China’s otherwise sluggish box office amid a struggling economy – has sparked a wave of national pride and jubilation, with audiences, state media and officials rushing to celebrate the landmark achievement.

For decades, China’s movie market had been dominated by Hollywood blockbusters. But in recent years, homegrown titles – in genres from action and sci-fi to romance and animation – have increasingly outpaced Western films, a pivot fueled by rising cultural pride, more sophisticated storytelling and rapid technological progress.

And as censorship tightens and geopolitical tensions with the United States flare, it’s become all the more difficult for Hollywood to navigate political landmines in the once-lucrative market.

China’s domestic film industry has pounced on the opportunity. Animation rooted in traditional Chinese folklore, enhanced with state-of-the-art special effects, has proven to be a winning formula.

For a new generation of Chinese filmmakers and audiences, the reasoning is clear: If China’s own talent can deliver high-quality adaptions of the legends they grew up with, why rely on Western studios to tell Chinese stories?

Following its record-breaking run in China, “Ne Zha 2” has headed overseas, with wide releases in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday and North America on Friday. It became an instant hit among the Chinese diaspora – many rushed to snap up presale tickets days in advance and lined up for its premieres.

“Even those who weren’t previously interested in anime, like me, are drawn to this movie because of the enthusiasm and the glowing word of mouth in China,” said Summer Wang, a data analyst who attended the film’s premiere in Los Angeles.

Stephanie Zhan, 30, a jewelry sales manager in Sydney, spent an hour getting to a cinema in a severe thunderstorm to watch “Ne Zha 2.” The audience, mostly of Chinese descent, erupted in applause at the end of the screening, she said.

“It had a complete story arc with nuanced emotions, funny moments and the fight scenes were spectacular – on par with the epic battles in something like ‘The Avengers.’ It was truly impressive,” she said. “I feel hopeful about domestic films now.”

The success formula

The sequel to a 2019 box office champion, all the stars aligned for “Ne Zha 2” to become a smash hit.

The film faced few serious competitors upon its release at the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, a peak cinema-going time for the whole family in China.

Drawing on a 16th-century novel, the film features characters familiar to Chinese audiences of all ages. But it also offers fresh takes that resonate with the young generation, said Xiaoning Lu, an expert on Chinese cinema at SOAS University of London.

“It’s a very successful commercial film. On one hand, it’s got advanced animation technology, and on the other, it excels in storytelling. It’s family-friendly, fun to watch with a touch of rebellious spirit,” Lu said. “In fact, it’s a mixture of different formulas that came together and worked.”

Born with a demonic fate and extraordinary powers, the protagonist, Ne Zha, is “ugly cute” and mischievous, unafraid to challenge heavenly authority and confront the gods who have manipulated power to suit their own ends.

“The messages it conveys resonate with different audiences and reflect many of the challenges of our times, such as challenging the established structure, institution and authority; themes of family love and friendship; distrust of the system and authority; and identity confusion,” said Sabrina Qiong Yu, a film and Chinese studies professor at Newcastle University. “It’s like ‘chicken soup for the soul’ or a shot of excitement in the gloomy atmosphere of the era.”

The film also invites open interpretation, with some nationalist viewers excited to spot “Easter eggs” they interpret as political metaphors mocking America — such as objects resembling US dollar signs, the Great Seal of the United States, the Pentagon and the coronavirus.

Yu, who watched the movie in China, said she heard many audience members discussing these nationalist elements. “While I didn’t feel this strongly when watching the film, I do think it might have contributed to its box office success,” she said.

Many recent Chinese blockbusters have capitalized on rising nationalist sentiment, achieving massive success. “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” a 2021 government-commissioned war flick, was previously China’s top-grossing title after taking the top spot from 2017 patriotic action movie “Wolf Warrior 2.”

National pride

As it shattered box office records, “Ne Zha 2” quickly emerged as a triumph of China’s animation and film industries.

The movie was made entirely in China, involving 138 animation companies and more than 4,000 crew, according to its end credits.

Its director Yang Yu, a medical major turned animation filmmaker, told state broadcaster CCTV that he initially approached international production teams for some key scenes, but the results fell short of expectations.

“Sure, they might be a top-tier studio, but they could be using third-rate staff on our project. So, after outsourcing, many of the shots didn’t turn out as we wanted, and we ended up bringing them back,” he said.

Yang conceded that Chinese studios are still playing catch-up with top foreign counterparts in technologies and industrial processes, though the gap is closing.

China’s animation industry has come a long way. In a market where generations of audiences grew up watching movies from Hollywood’s Disney and Pixar and Japan’s Studio Ghibli, a growing number of domestic animations have broken through in recent years, especially those championing traditional culture.

It’s a similar story in other entertainment sectors. Last year, “Black Myth: Wukong,” a Chinese video game based on classical 16th-century novel “Journey to the West” and featuring cutting-edge graphics, became an international bestseller.

As “Ne Zha 2” box office receipts surpassed Hollywood classics one after another, Chinese moviegoers rallied to support the film and push its ticket sales to new heights.

On Chinese social media, users called on each other to hit the cinema – and even watch it multiple times. A trending hashtag on microblogging site Weibo compared the film’s rise through global box office ranks to “raising the national flag.”

On Thursday night, the film hit a landmark 100 billion yuan ($13.7 billion) in ticket sales, overtaking “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” to become the third-highest-grossing animated film ever, just behind “Frozen 2.”

State media and Chinese officials have piled praise on “Ne Zha 2,” hailing it as a prime example of China’s growing “cultural confidence.”

China’s ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng, promoted the movie in multiple posts on X and in speeches. Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, called the film “a new bridge for cultural exchanges between China and the world and a new window on China for the world.”

However, “Ne Zha 2” faces a major challenge in gaining a strong foothold in overseas markets, where it will compete with the newly released “Captain America: Brave New World.” And beyond the Chinese diaspora, it may struggle to connect with a broader international audience, viewers and experts say.

“I do not see it having the same potential to transcend cultural boundaries and achieve significant box office success overseas as ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ did at the start of this century,” said Yu, from Newcastle University.

“But I could be wrong. Good luck to its overseas release.”

CNN’s Joyce Jiang contributed to reporting.

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