Box Office: 'Ne Zha 2' Tops $430 Million As 'Dog Man' Opens With $36 Million

The Middle Kingdom's 'Avengers: Endgame'-style Lunar New Year lineup, packed with some of their biggest franchises, led to an industry-reviving holiday frame.

This weekend’s big box office news came from China, where the industry tried to revive a relatively declining marketplace with a line-up reminiscent of “Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue” for the Lunar New Year. Overall grosses were down 25% from 2023, with no release surpassing $500 million, let alone reaching the $700-$900 million peaks of Wandering Earth, Wolf Warrior II, and Battle at Lake Changjin. During what is typically its biggest frame this year, they loaded up on some of their most popular franchises and brands.

Imagine if Hollywood released Avengers: Doomsday, The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, Michael, and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, all during the same extended holiday from Wednesday to Sunday. The result was an overall frame, just noting the top six new releases that earned over $955 million in China. While there was capacity for more than one blockbuster (although maybe not more than three), the top two stood out.

First, most impressively, Ne Zha 2, which made $432 million (counting previews) in its first five days from a $67 million debut. That’s a long opening ($86 million Friday/$100 million Sunday) on par with Shrek 2 ($11 million Wednesday/$44 million Saturday/$128 million Wed-Sun) back in the day. I’m not saying that Ne Zha 2 will earn $1.4 billion in China alone, but… this isn’t Detective Chinatown 3, which earned $399 million over its Fri-Sun debut (a record in any territory) from a $157 million and — amid mixed word-of-mouth due to an overdose of franchise-building and sequel set-up— frontloaded to $686 million.