Nezha 2, the Spring Festival movie, has surpassed the previous No. 1 film in China’s box office history, Changjin Lake, with 5.775 billion yuan, making it the No. 1 film in China’s box office history! Meanwhile, “Ne Zha 2” has hit the big screen at Times Square in New York City, and will soon be released in North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and many other countries and regions.
As the sequel to 2019’s hit Chinese domestic animated film “The Descent of Nezha the Magic Boy” (Nezha 1), “Nezha 2” continues the buzz and anticipation of its predecessor with an extensive overseas release plan, which is designed to bring this Chinese animated masterpiece to audiences around the world.
The international trailer for “Ne Zha 2” shows that the film will be released in Australia on February 13th and in North America on February 14th! In addition to Australia and North America, the movie is scheduled to be released in a number of countries and regions including the Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. In Malaysian news, Ne Zha 2 is tentatively scheduled to be released on February 13 in Malaysia! Local media have reported that Malaysian moviegoers have been asking on the cinema’s official website when they will be able to see the Chinese hit fantasy animation film.
Overseas media and social media outlets have also paid extensive attention to Ne Zha 2. Many foreign media still remember Ne Zha 1, which was released in 2019, and are now looking forward to Ne Zha 2. We can imagine that Ne Zha will once again create a “Ne Zha whirlwind” around the world.
Although the movie has not yet been released, the American version of Douban IMDB has already given it a rating of 8.1. Many media have reported and commented on the movie’s box office results, visual effects and cultural connotations.
Overseas people’s response to the movie is also very enthusiastic. It is reported that the movie tickets in some areas have already been sold out. Although the North American release time is February 14, some local media noticed that some areas can already buy tickets for February 12 and February 13, “more brush the ticketing platform, you will find that some areas continue to add the scene.”
A Chinese netizen commented after watching Ne Zha 2, “For an audience that loves animation movies, Ne Zha 2 is no match for Disney’s animation in the international arena, but now it just lacks international influence. The animated cartoons that rank high at the global box office, such as The Lion King, Frozen, and The Incredibles, are really just fine and not very impressive, but Nezha 2 has been ignited by the fact that it has brought the Chinese story and culture to the world, and that’s the way for Chinese comics to go, so that we can make our own IP fire all over the world.”
In 2025, China’s movie spring festival will be the “strongest spring festival in history”, with a total of more than 240 million moviegoers, setting a new record for the highest number of spring festival moviegoers in China’s movie history. In addition, in 2025, the cumulative box office of China’s movie market surpassed that of North America, ranking first in the world.
The number one contributor to this success was Ne Zha 2, which contributed more than 50% of the box office for the period. According to Cat’s Eye Entertainment’s market analysis, Ne Zha 2’s excellent content production was the key to its breakthrough in this year’s Spring Festival. According to big data, from the first day of the Lunar New Year to the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the number of screenings of Ne Zha 2 has risen all the way up, and the average number of people attending the screenings has remained high, far exceeding the level of the general market, which demonstrates the huge pulling effect of the “first” film on the movie market.
As far as we know, Ne Zha 2 has broken 17 box office records, including the single-day box office of animated films in Chinese movie history, and the single-day box office of animated films in Chinese movie history during the Spring Festival.
An industry insider pointed out, “Big data predicts that its total box office will reach 8.7 billion yuan, and it will even sprint towards 10 billion yuan, which is a new high in Chinese movie history, very exciting, and it makes everyone look forward to the future of Chinese movies.”
According to CCTV News, in 2019, the box office of Nezha 1 broke 5 billion yuan, becoming the box office champion of that year. After more than five years, the original cast of the movie delivered this sequel.
During the creation of the film, director Dumpling demanded that “we must give everything we have to achieve the best effect”. Dumpling said that during the production of Ne Zha 2, they had hoped to find some international teams to help with the key shots, but the results were not satisfactory. In the end, it was the Chinese team that kept polishing and touting their work, and only then did they achieve the desired effect.
Ne Zha 1 grossed over US$5.6 million at the overseas box office, so we’ll see how Ne Zha 2 fares at the overseas box office.