The Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2, which has generated over 14 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) at the box office since its release, boosted the production company’s stock and drove related merchandise sales, surpassing hundreds of millions of yuan, reports said.

Since its release, the film has amassed over $2.07 million, cementing its status as 2025’s highest-grossing film in the region.

According to Variety, the Chinese animated movie has become the highest-grossing animated movie in film history, racking up $1.9 billion from nearly 80,000 screens after four weeks. The milestone surpassed Inside Out 2 and ranked it among the top eight films in history at the global box office.

Director Yang Yu, known as Jiaozi, mentioned that while they initially considered using international companies for visual effects, they chose to work with local teams instead, as “the international options did not meet expectations.”

The general manager of Mianyang Zhonghuan Culture Communications, Wang Zheng was amazed by the film’s technical quality. Tickets often sold out within minutes, prompting some international fans to travel to nearby countries just to see it.

In Jiangxi province, the Huanying Fengbao (Miragevfx) studio dedicated three months to creating the ethereal dome effects of Yu Xu Palace, featuring detailed circular patterns and captivating nectar water animations. The average age of their young animation team was 25.

Meanwhile, in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Fantawild Animation also spent “three months” refining the waterfall effects for a forest battle scene. To manage this complex task, the animation team optimised their workflows, utilised 50 high-performance workstations as a computational cluster, and performed batch processing of simulation data.

Ne Zha 2 involved five production companies—three linked to Enlight Media and two to Jiaozi. With a budget of 500 million yuan for production and marketing, insiders estimate Enlight could earn over 2 billion yuan from a 10 billion yuan box office total.

Following the Spring Festival, Enlight company’s shares rose significantly, increasing their market value to 100 billion yuan.

“The script is exceptionally well-written, with sharp dialogue and rich character development. I heard 138 companies worked on this project over five years—the dedication and technical excellence are evident,” Director of the Hong Kong SAR Government’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau, LO Shuk-pui said.

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Moreover, data from Fliggy indicated a major rise in searches for Ne Zha-related tourist spots, with Yibin’s interest increasing by 225% and Jiangyou’s by 453%. Popular attractions, like Ne Zha Nao Hai Water Park and Ne Zha Town, also saw a significant boost in searches.

Ne Zha is a story about a boy born with unique powers and is later recruited to fight demons and save the community that fears him.

Pixar’s highly anticipated sequel Inside Out 2 surpassed Incredibles 2 to become the studio’s highest-grossing movie of all time, earning a staggering $1.25 billion at the global box office.