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It is still quite early in 2025, but January is in books and we have at least some new movies in the world. After all, it was a quite quiet month at the box office, with films like “Wolf Man” without expectations. However, that is in North America. In other parts of the world, namely China, the theaters are full of customers who are eager to see what wonders await them in the cinema. In particular, an animated sequel is now, with much, the biggest film of the year in general, and is not even remotely close.
“NE ZHA 2”, the sequel to the “NE ZHA” box office success of 2019, debuted last weekend in China. To say that it had a great openness would be a dramatic underestimation. During New Year’s lunar holidays in the country, the animated film opened to almost $ 300 million in just two days. As of Monday, February 3, the film had already accumulated $ 432.2 million, for Variety. However, that is really just the tip of the iceberg.
The film added another $ 117 million on Monday, which means that its total is now north of $ 550 million. At the end of this prayer, it will be beyond $ 600 million. Next weekend? Who knows. The sequel has also been a monster in IMAX and broke the five -day record established by “Moana 2” of Disney ($ 386.3 million) during Thanksgiving last year.
For an additional context, only 13 Hollywood productions won more than $ 432 million worldwide in 2024. “NE ZHA 2” did it in a matter of days. Soon will pass “Inside Out 2” ($ 653 million) to become the largest animated film in a single country. If things continue like this, we could be looking at the first $ 1 billion collectors in a single market. This is an absolute monster.
Ne zha 2 is only part of what China’s box office is promoting at this time
Directed by Jiaozi, “Ne Zha 2” is based freely on the book “Investmity of the Gods”. The first post, launched in 2019, also did amazing business, obtaining more than $ 740 million Worldwide, with damn almost all that money from buyers of Chinese tickets. They are films like this, as well as unexpected box office successes such as “Wolf Warrior 2” ($ 870 million), “Hello, mom” ($ 822 million), “The Wandering Earth” ($ 670 million) and “The battle in Lake In Lake Changjin “($ 902 million) that have led China to prioritize their own films, instead of launching more support behind the rate produced by the United States.
That has implications for Hollywood, since studies can no longer depend on China’s solid box office returns in the way they could in the pre-pandemic era. Apart from that, this is also a reminder that it is really a global theatrical market and, in general terms, films that work well are something good for theaters. At the same time, “Ne zha 2” is receiving a liberation from the USA., But it is unlikely that it will establish a significant way.
Looking beyond “Ne zha 2”, China also had several other huge releases on the lunar new year, including “Detective Chinatown 1900” ($ 129.3 million weekend) and “Creation of The Gods II: Demon Force” ( $ 42.9 million weekend). The full five -day picture delivered more than $ 1.2 billion for ticket sales. Meanwhile, the largest American launch of 2025 so far is “Den of Thieves 2: Panther”, with just a total of $ 50 million. That is a gap.
What is happening in China at this time suggests that the global box office could recover big this year. Last year, the entire global box office totaled $ 30 billion, which was less than Netflix only produced in income. The lunar new year box office was more than 230% above last year in China, which is a good sign. Not necessarily for Hollywood, but again, again, focusing on the largest global image. The desire for the experience of the big screen continues.
“Ne zha 2” reaches cinemas in the United States at the end of this month. You can rent the first “Ne Zha” in the Amazon Prime video.
