How China’s ‘Ne Zha 2’ Beat ‘Inside Out 2’ to Become the Highest-Grossing Animated Film in History

variety.com:

Ne Zha 2,” a Chinese animated movie, has become an unprecedented smash, racking up $1.9 billion from nearly 80,000 screens after four weeks — and with little help from the world’s largest theatrical market.

It’s now the highest-grossing movie in a single territory, overtaking 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which earned $936.7 million in North America. “Ne Zha 2” cemented the benchmark in 11 days; “The Force Awakens” took a comparatively glacial 165 days.

And the milestones don’t stop there: “Ne Zha 2” is the biggest animated movie in history, surpassing 2024’s “Inside Out 2” ($1.66 billion).

Soon, it will be the first animated movie to cross $2 billion. All these laurels have turned the family film into a point of pride in China at a time when President Donald Trump is imposing new tariffs on the country. “Since ‘Ne Zha 2’ is now competing with Hollywood films for records, it has become a duty to promote and support the film,” says Stanley Rosen, a political science and international relations professor at USC. “It’s become a litmus test of whether you’re patriotic or not.” Buoyed by great reviews, a prime release date during the Lunar New Year and a booming sense of nationalism, ticket sales are projected to reach $2.09 billion by the end of the film’s run, according to China’s box office ticketing agency Maoyan.