Box Office: 'Ne Zha 2' Towers Over 'Captain America 4,' Passes $1.6 Billion
'Paddington In Peru' earned $15 million over the holiday, 'Heart Eyes' jumped 20% and 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' opened with a franchise-best $32 million overseas.
In weekend box office news not related to Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World ($88 million domestically and $192 million worldwide), the global box office again belonged to Ne Zha 2. The animated sequel earned another $273 million in its third Fri-Sun frame, +3% from last weekend’s $264 million gross and down just 8% from its $299 million (from a $430 million Wed-Sun frame) opening weekend. It has now earned $1.63 billion in China alone. Along with $7.5 million in North America (for a likely $9 million Fri-Mon holiday frame), it will pass Inside Out 2 ($1.69 billion last year) today or tomorrow as the biggest animated movie ever in unadjusted domestic earnings.
At this rate, it’ll pass $2 billion just in China within the next week or so. And yes, it easily topped the $192 million global debut of Captain America: Brave New World. To be fair, I’ve long argued that Chinese tentpoles in the 2010s and early 2020s were essentially operating in their own proverbial bubble, with their sky-high earnings not necessarily comparable to any other nation’s tentpoles. Think comparing Netflix’s viewership figures to Paramount+, Max or even Disney+. Meanwhile, the film debuted in 660 domestic theaters over the holiday. It instantly became the biggest-grossing Chinese movie stateside since Jet Li’s Hero ($54 million from an $18 million debut) in the summer of 2004.
Whether it can maintain momentum beyond the initially curious is merely whether it can leapfrog past the $15-$21 million totals of recent Indian actioners like RRR, Kalki 2898 AD, Pathaan and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. I’ve long argued that there’s a relatively solid audience for “universal” foreign-language films, not just the Indian flicks and not breakouts like Godzilla Minus One. I hope we might start seeing more Chinese biggies playing in wider domestic releases going forward. I have yet to see it since my kids keep insisting that they want to come along but don’t feel like doing so “right now.” They’ve got until tomorrow, or I’m ditching them on Cheap Ticket Tuesday.