Ne Zha 2 is breaking all box office records with its mind-boggling performance. It has crossed the $1 billion mark at the Chinese box office this morning after surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ $935 million plus haul yesterday. It became the single-market highest-grossing film of all time. All eyes are on it now to see how much it collects on its second Sunday. Scroll below for the deets.
After only ten days in the theatres, the film has achieved several titles. At the time of its release, the OG film was reportedly the highest-grossing animated film in China, the highest-grossing non-US animated film worldwide, and the second-highest-grossing non-English-language film of all time. The fantasy adventure film was written and directed by Jiaozi. It features the Chinese Mythological character Nezha, a protection deity in Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion.
Ne Zha 2 is a continuation of the first film, which is loosely based on the classic 16th-century novel Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin. The first film was also critically and commercially successful, becoming the first animated feature from China to be selected as the Chinese entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. However, it was ultimately not nominated.
Based on Luiz Fernando’s report, the Ne Zha sequel crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office in China on Sunday morning. It is now the only film to cross that milestone in a single market, meaning the highest-grossing film ever in a single market worldwide, and that too in just 12 days. It collected $84.7 million yesterday, its second Saturday dropping just -15.6% from the first Saturday. It had hit the $992.8 million cume in 11 days.
The report also mentions that Ne Zha 2 registered $33.5 million in pre-sales for the second Sunday. This could potentially be the first time in the history of a film to gross over $100million in a single day on a second weekend.
According to Deadline, as of 11.30 am Beijing time on Sunday, as per Moayan, the movie grossed $1.04 billion at the Chinese box office. It is the first non-Hollywood movie to enter the billion-dollar club, and it has also joined the all-time top 10 charts of animated films globally. The report also revealed that it is the 13th film to surpass the one-billion-dollar mark outside North America. At this pace, it might even cross the $2 billion mark in its lifetime run.
Ne Zha 2 was released in the theatres on January 29.
Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.
