China’s Overdue Animation Explosion Ignited by the Local and Global Success of ’Ne Zha 2’

variety.com:

Jamie Lang China’s “Ne Zha 2” has dominated the first quarter of 2025 at the global box office, raking in over $2 billion and becoming the highest-grossing animated film and sixth-highest-grossing film ever at press time.

The film has certainly overperformed expectations, but there were plenty of clues that a box office boom for Chinese animation was in the cards.

Before “Ne Zha,” “Boonie Bears” was the country’s big animated IP. In 2024, the franchise crossed the $1 billion mark with its 10th feature, “Boonie Bears: Time Twist.” In 2023, Light Chaser Animation’s historical epic “Chang’An” proved a smash hit, grossing $250 million at the box office, outperforming films from the biggest U.S.

and Japanese studios that year. The Rise of Chinese Animation Chinese animation, often referred to as donghua, has a long and storied history but has truly come into its own in the past decade.