Ne Zha 2 is now, officially, the highest-grossing animated film of all time— and almost no one saw it coming. What started as a fun title for the Chinese Spring and Lunar New Year Festival has turned into a market phenomenon. Here’s entertainment lawyer from Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake, with the happy news.
Breaking Inside Out 2 Record
As of Wednesday last week, Ne Zha 2 has now officially passed Inside Out 2’s $1.699B record to take the title of top-grossing animated film of all time. Perhaps more remarkable, however, is that $1.7B of that is from its home market alone, with the film only just expanding to further international markets last week. Its total to date is at $1.72B and is expected to keep rising. This also gives it the No. 8 spot on the overall movie earnings of all-time list.
Where to from Here?
Currently, it is predicted that the film will close in China at $2.08B. If it achieves this, it will finish around the No. 5 spot on the all-time chart. More notably, however, this will build on a record it has already set when it crossed the $1B mark in a single market. Seeing a $2B single market release would be amazing, indeed. It has already had its Chinese box office run extended further and will remain in theaters there until March 30. It has yet to be released in Hong Kong.
It’s been a truly remarkable run for a film no one, including Chinese critics, had on their radar going into the Chinese New Year. Now the first non-Hollywood movie to make it to the billion-dollar club, alongside its slew of other records, its international expansion is definitely going to be something to watch.
Film and Television 