New Chinese animated movie Ne Zha 2 has overtaken Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time.
The movie was released in China on January 29, before arriving in North America on February 14. The film has now made $2.07 billion at the global box office, making it the highest-grossing release of 2025 so far. The Force Awakens, which was released 10 years ago in 2015 as the first installment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, made $2.068 billion.
What’s more, it’s now the highest-grossing animated movie of all time and the highest-grossing non-English-language movie, and the first non-English-language film to make over $1 billion at the box office.
A sequel to 2019’s Ne Zha, the film follows the unlikely titular hero, a demon child raised by humans. In the aftermath of the first movie’s epic battle, Ne Zha must now embark on a dangerous quest to find an elixir to save the dragon prince Ao Bing.
Ne Zha 2’s rapid rise up the box office charts now places it in the top five highest-grossing movies of all time, with only Titanic, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avengers: Endgame, and Avatar above it. 2015’s Jurassic World, which previously held the number 10 spot, has now been pushed out of the top 10.
As well as being a hit with audiences, Ne Zha 2 has also landed well with critics. The movie currently has a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ne Zha 2 is out now in US theaters and arrives in UK cinemas on March 14. For more, get up to speed on the rest of this year’s best upcoming movies with our guide to the biggest movie release dates in 2025.
