It's Already Made More Money Than Any <em>Star Wars</em> Movie. You've Probably Never Heard Of It.
(min-width: 1024px)709px,
(min-width: 768px)620px,
calc(100vw - 30px)" width="1560">One of the biggest movies in the world is soon coming to American theaters—and chances are you've never heard of it.
Ne Zha 2 , an animated fantasy adventure movie written and directed by the Chinese filmmaker Jiaozi, broke multiple records after it premiered in China earlier this year. With box office earnings of more than $2.2 billion, it is the highest-grossing film of 2025, the highest-grossing non-English-language film in history, and the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, nestled right in between Titanic and Star Wars: The Force Awakens . The movie's success has not gone unnoticed by the American entertainment industry: A24, the company best known for films with a certain indie je ne sais quoi ( Moonlight , Lady Bird , Everything Everywhere All at Once ), is breaking from its typical fare and partnering with China's CMC Pictures to distribute the English dub of the animated blockbuster beginning Friday. It's a big bet, and it's not clear yet what the results will be. This release has been called a “ litmus test of the US market's appetite for Chinese storytelling ”—a particularly charged open question, considering the escalating tensions between the United States and mainland China.
English-language press about Ne Zha 2 has so far been scarce, and what little has broken through tells a familiar tale about China: “ Rising nationalist sentiment is a key factor in the success of Ne Zha 2 ,” David Opie wrote for IndieWire, asserting that “national pride” is behind the film's popularity, and claiming that there are “plenty of digs at imperialism” and the US in the movie “if you know where to look.” Ne Zha 2 has also become “ a litmus test for patriotism ” in China, Koh Ewe wrote for BBC News, drawing from online comments to conclude that, per the article's headline, “nationalism fuels Ne Zha 2 fans.” Reuters reported that the movie has “ sparked national pride and now hostility towards rival Hollywood offerings ,” citing a social-media post that called for Captain America: Brave New World to “die” at the box office in China.
Reading this coverage, you would think that the movie is shameless Chinese propaganda, propelled to its record-shattering heights by mindless communist drones whose only desire is to take down America. Take this age-old narrative at face value if you wish. But anyone interested in animation specifically and cinema in general should know that's far from the whole story.
Ne Zha 2 , a sequel to the animated film Ne Zha —the debut feature of Jiaozi and his animation studio Chengdu Coco Cartoon, and a runaway hit in 2019—is loosely based on Chinese mythology and the 16 th -century novel Investiture of the Gods , and the plot mixes together elements that will be alternately familiar to mainstream American audiences (a chosen one, various magical objects) and less so. As depicted in the first movie, Ne Zha, the titular hero, was born to human parents but made from the essence of the Demon Orb, one half of the powerful Chaos Pearl, and given just three years to live. Shielded from his true nature by his parents, he grows up a bored and mischievous child who secretly longs for acceptance by the local villagers, who fear him due to his power and (to be fair) his penchant for tormenting them. He becomes a disciple of a heavenly immortal, who trains Ne Zha to hunt demons without telling him that he himself is one. Ne Zha eventually learns the truth, and he and his new friend Ao Bing—a child of the Dragon King, and the reincarnation of the Chaos Pearl's other half, the Spirit Pearl—lose their mortal bodies when the three-year timeline is up. But their souls survive, and in Ne Zha 2 , they have to share Ne Zha's temporary body until a new one can be built for Ao Bing. To accomplish this, Ne Zha must pass three demon-hunting trials to become an immortal and join the heavenly Chan sect, all while his hometown is under the threat of the Dragon King, who promises to destroy it if Ao Bing isn't restored. The story progresses with scores of betrayals and heaps of battles—between demons, demon hunters, dragons, and various combinations thereof.
If all this sounds hard to follow, that's because it is. Those unfamiliar with the sprawl of Chinese mythology and the Taoist pantheon will likely find themselves lost for the first third of Ne Zha 2 , especially if they haven't seen the first movie. (The original Ne Zha is available to rent in the US, and I recommend it even if you don't stick around for Ne Zha 2. ) The bloat of the sequel doesn't help: By my estimation, the 144-minute film is about 20 minutes too long, with much of that run time devoted to combat scenes that, although visually stunning, begin to blur together. And while it's not difficult to figure out who the story's real villains are, your neck may be left with whiplash from each successive turn in the plot.
Still, Ne Zha 2 is a feat in other ways. The animation is some of the best I've seen out of any country, topping even the impressive strokes of the first film, which also had the advantage of a tighter story and stronger emotional resonance compared to its follow-up. In Ne Zha 2 , there are sequences so breathtaking—an army of heavenly demon hunters assembling into golden leaves on a tree, infernal lava flowing from seams ripped into the sky, a celestial palace carved of purest jade—that they can be held up as high points of the craft. Between the sweeping visuals, the exciting fight scenes, and the universal themes (friends, family, determining one's fate), it's not exactly a mystery why Ne Zha 2 did such huge numbers, especially with a release over a major holiday weekend like the Chinese New Year, when it came out in China.
But what to make of the accusations of more sinister forces at play? For instance, are there anti-American references within the film? There are viewers—including some Chinese social-media users—who certainly think so , claiming that the octagonal Yuxu Palace is obviously meant to evoke the United States' Pentagon (the number eight is considered perhaps the luckiest in Chinese culture , and numerous premodern temples and structures have been built with eight sides ); that the Yuxu Palace's white color is unmistakably a nod to the White House and/or white people (in China, white jade has historically been valued even more than green jade ); that the pendant given to Ne Zha for passing his trials is brazenly emblazoned with a bald eagle, like that found on US currency (the bird appears to be a fenghuang phoenix or the Vermilion Bird , both creatures found in Chinese mythology); and that the symbol inlaid into the top of the Chan sect's heavenly cauldron is clearly a dollar sign (the mark in question has two vertical bars rather than one, shows the S on its side, and bears at least as much resemblance to the qiequ designs found on actual ancient Chinese bronze cauldrons ).
“You claim to serve the light, but all you do is prey upon the weak,” Ao Bing accuses the movie's true Big Bad in the final confrontation, after the latter's full treachery has been revealed. This condemnation is supposed to be the incontestable proof that Ne Zha 2 is nakedly taking shots at the US, according to those reading anti-American sentiment in the film. I'm sorry to report that, as a Chinese American critic with roots in both countries, I don't see it. After all, it's not as if America invented hypocrisy. I find it equally telling that there have been plenty of viewers on Chinese social media who speculate that the oppressive force behind the story's villainy is a veiled reference to the Chinese Communist Party. As with so many blockbusters, at home and abroad, its politics are open to interpretation.
And what of the claims that there has been a wider, nationalism-fueled conspiracy to artificially bump Ne Zha 2 to the top? I won't make a definitive ruling. Certainly there is the possibility of astroturfing, just as there is for many movies released outside China. (In the US, similar allegations dogged Sound of Freedom , though when Slate's Sam Adams saw it, the audience showed up in droves as if it were Top Gun .) But some of the evidence cited by English-language media warrants an eye roll. Companies taking their employees on cinema outings or giving them vouchers to see the film? Discounted or free movie tickets have been issued in China for years, and not just for Chinese movies . Fans watching the movie multiple times? A regular sight at many box-office-conquering films, from Titanic to Avatar , no patriotic zeal required. Hating on Ne Zha 2 ’s box office competitor Captain America: Brave New World ? Yeah, join the club . Getting attacked on social media for criticizing the film? Setting aside the very real problem of China's censors , this is now the price of espousing any diverging opinion voiced on the internet. (Please don't ask me about the aftermath of my piece about Sydney Sweeney .) It would also be plainly untrue to suggest that all online judgment of Ne Zha 2 is strictly glowing. Search on Chinese social media and movie-review sites, and you'll find verdicts ranging from negative to lukewarm to positive. Surprise: Chinese people aren't a monolith, and they aren't all driven by a red-tinted bloodlust for national dominance. It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don't even have the thought of America cross their minds.
The English-language version of Ne Zha 2 may very well bomb at the American box office, in spite of the overseas hype and money behind the movie, A24's tastemaking clout, and the star power of Michelle Yeoh, who voices one of the characters in the new dub. While Chinese culture has made some inroads into increasing global influence through the likes of video games , social-media apps , and, I guess, ugly dolls , it may still be a lot to ask American audiences who have long been inculcated with Sinophobic beliefs to fork over money for an overtly Chinese movie that's not Kung Fu Panda and that happens to be a sequel to a different Chinese film they've never heard of. Fine. But if Ne Zha 2 flops, let it be on its own merits, not because of reductive fear mongering. “If our dominance was truly secure,” the movie's villain says, as he attempts to justify his preemptive attack on his enemies, “I'd never have gone to such lengths.” Huh, maybe I'm starting to see the resemblance after all.
