Box Office: 'Ze Na 2' Passes $1 Billion As 'Dog Man' Tops Poor Super Bowl Weekend
China's animated blockbuster is the first movie ever to earn over $1 billion in a single territory. Oh, and 'Dog Man' took a record second-weekend drop for a DWA toon.
Ne Zha 2 has become the first movie to earn $1 billion in a single marketplace. With $264 million in its second weekend (-12% from its $299 million Friday-Sunday debut during a $430 million Wednesday-Sunday launch), the animated sequel has now grossed $1.1 billion in China alone. While the Chinese government distributed vouchers during the Lunar New Year frame as part of an economic stimulus package, we’re still talking about a film that (sans inflation) out-earned the $937 million lifetime domestic total of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 13 days. It is now the top-earning non-English language film ever and the biggest grosser in any single marketplace.
It pulled this off in record time while scoring the best “single marketplace” second weekend, way above Star Wars 7’s $149 million weekend-two gross in 2015. That was the fourth-biggest single-market weekend gross, opening or otherwise, behind the opening weekends of Ne Zha 2 ($299 million last weekend in China), Avengers: Endgame ($356 million domestic in April of 2019) and Detective Chinatown 3 ($399 million in China in January of 2021). So, yeah, it opened like an Avengers sequel while, thus far, displaying legs like an Avatar sequel. Its Chinese pre-sales for February 14 are already above the opening day for Captain America: Brave New World.
It opens in limited domestic release this coming weekend, and at least two of my three kids are psyched. The first Ne Zha debuted in July 2019 with a massive $94 million opening weekend before legging out amid terrific word of mouth to a $722 million total. I took my oldest to see it at Hollywood’s TCL Imax over Labor Day weekend that year, and it blew both of our minds. The film is a visually stunning and emotionally gripping fantasy based on an ancient folk tale, resembling a kid-friendly blend of Hellboy, Man of Steel and (yes) Brightburn with action sequences that will satisfy fans of Matrix Revolutions.
Ne Zha was also supposed to launch an animated “cinematic universe.” While the not-as-good but still pretty-decent Jiang Ziya earned $244 million in 2020, the moment was arguably missed, similar to Universal’s difficulties in capitalizing on Invisible Man as a post-Dark Universe success story. Or… maybe not? I’m very curious A) to what extent it breaks out in North America (the last 15 years’ worth of Chinese tentpoles have, understandably, made the vast majority of their money in the Middle Kingdom) and B) whether it slows down in China over the next few weeks. I mean, hell, this point, “normal rate of descent” implies a $1.63 billion just-in-China finish.
While I’m at a disadvantage since I haven’t seen the film, this looks like a breakout sequel to a much-loved predecessor that delivers on what audiences embraced the first time without overcomplicating or aggressively “franchise-building.” Think DreamWorks’ Shrek 2, which opened three years after its $268 million-grossing (and Oscar-winning) predecessor amid even better reviews and legged out to $441 million domestic from a $108 million Fri-Sun/$128 million Wed-Sun debut in May of 2004. It earned $919 million worldwide, compared to $485 million worldwide for Shrek, becoming the top-earning animated film ever in North America (until Finding Dory in 2016) and worldwide (until Toy Story 3 in 2010).
Ne Zha 2 is the seventh-largest animated film ever, trailing (for now) Minions ($1.16 billion), Incredibles 2 ($1.24 billion), Frozen ($1.28 billion), The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.36 billion), Frozen II ($1.45 billion), and Inside Out 2 ($1.7 billion). Among all global releases from the 2020s, it ranks behind only Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.34 billion), Super Mario Bros., Barbie ($1.45 billion), Top Gun: Maverick ($1.46 billion), Inside Out 2, Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.9 billion), and Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.3 billion). As it holds firm and climbs further up the various all-timer charts, will Captain America: Brave New World even be the top-grossing film worldwide next weekend?