The new king of the Chinese box office is an adorably ugly, demonic child fighting off monsters.
In less than two weeks since its release, “Ne Zha 2,” an animated film based loosely on Chinese mythology and a famous 16th century novel, has become the highest-grossing movie ever in China, with more than $1 billion in ticket sales. It is also the first film not made by a Hollywood studio to cross that mark.
The blockbuster delivered a rare dose of good news for the Chinese film industry, which is struggling with anemic ticket sales and a slumping economy. The few films that break through the malaise are no longer Hollywood titles, but domestic features teeming with patriotic messaging or rooted in traditional Chinese culture or folklore.
“Ne Zha 2” is a sequel to what had been the highest-grossing animated film in China. In the 2019 original, Nezha is born as the reincarnation of a demon with supernatural powers, but destined to live only three years. He fights back against his fate and saves his village.
In the sequel, Nezha revisits a similar theme. He challenges the political order and authority governing gods and demons, fighting the Dragon King of the Four Seas and other creatures.
“ ‘Ne Zha 2’ is the rare movie that hits all the marks,” said Raymond Zhou, an independent Chinese film critic. “It targets all demographics, and has successfully won over all of them.”
The movie has pulled in $1.2 billion in ticket sales since its release on Jan. 29, at the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, according to Maoyan, a Chinese entertainment data provider. Its haul is already more than double the highest-grossing movie of 2024. The film, distributed by CMC Pictures, will be released in North America on Friday.
Chinese state media and Communist Party officials celebrated the movie’s success, portraying it as a recognition of China’s cultural influence.
“Chinese culture is constantly moving forward in inheritance and innovation and showing its unique charm,” wrote the Global Times, a Communist Party tabloid.
China Daily, a state-run newspaper, said in an opinion essay that “Ne Zha 2” symbolizes the country’s “growing cultural confidence.” It called it evidence that China’s entertainment industry is telling its own stories instead of relying on Western studios to make movies based on Chinese folklore, citing “Mulan” from Walt Disney Studios as an example.
“ ‘Ne Zha 2’ reclaims the storytelling mantle, proving that no one can narrate China’s myths better than China itself,” the essay stated.
Traditional Chinese culture has also inspired breakthroughs in other forms of entertainment. In video games, Black Myth: Wukong, based on a classic 16th century Chinese novel called “Journey to the West,” was an instant hit when it came out last year.
Until “Ne Zha 2,” the top-grossing Chinese films tapped into the country’s deepening nationalistic fervor. The previous No. 1, “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” is a 2021 film about a group of Chinese volunteers who defeated American soldiers during the Korean War. Close behind was “Wolf Warrior 2,” a 2017 action film in which a Chinese former special forces soldier takes on an American villain.
It’s been a tough stretch overall for Chinese films, however. Box office sales fell 23 percent last year, according to the China Film Administration, a government regulator.
The industry has gotten a boost from China’s broader efforts to stimulate consumer spending and reinvigorate a sluggish economy. The government added an extra day to the more than weeklong New Year holiday, giving moviegoers more time to go to the theater. In addition, there were discounts, subsidies and other incentives for movie tickets.
But Mr. Zhou, the film critic, said the incentives did not explain the success of “Ne Zha 2.” He credited the franchise’s popularity to its spin on classic tales and characters, resonating with younger audiences.
As the world’s second-largest movie market, after the United States, Chinese audiences were once a dependable source of ticket sales for Hollywood blockbusters.
That is no longer the case. Last year, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” was the only U.S. movie in the top 10 of China’s box office, ranking ninth. In 2023, no American film cracked the top 10.
Hu Xijin, a former editor in chief of the Global Times, said China’s decision to open up to Hollywood films in the 1990s helped advance the country’s movie industry, but China can now stand on its own.
“This is the best Chinese animation I have ever seen,” Mr. Hu wrote on Weibo, a social media platform. “The era when Chinese people looked up to Hollywood cartoons like ‘Kung Fu Panda’ and marveled at them is over.”
Li You contributed research.