NE ZHA 2 is a 2025 Chinese animated feature film, written and directed by Jiaozi. It is the sequel to the 2019 film Ne Zha. The film and its character prototypes are loosely based on the 16th-century Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi).
NE ZHA 2 was released in theaters in China on 29 January 2025 (the Chinese New Year Day) in standard 2D and 3D, IMAX, CINITY and CINITY LED, CGS, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, and other formats. Having grossed US$1.2 billion on a US$80 million budget, it is currently the highest-grossing film of 2025, the highest-grossing film in China, and the highest grossing non-English language film of all time. On the 11th day of its release, NE ZHA 2 became the highest grossing film in a single territory, surpassing the $936 million grossed by STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015) in North America, which itself had taken 165 days to reach that mark. The movie has made history as the first Asian film and the only non-Hollywood film to enter the top 30 on the global box office chart, according to data from an online platform.
The record-breaking run makes "Ne Zha 2" not just a box office titan but a cultural phenomenon, further underscoring China's ability to produce homegrown blockbusters that strike a chord with domestic audience while showcasing the potential for global appeal. NE ZHA and NE ZHA 2, along with Jiang Ziya, are part of Enlight Pictures' Fengshen Universe.
After the release of NE ZHA (2019), the production team intended to develop a sequel. Director Jiaozi confirmed that this is indeed the case, and that it would depend on the first film's box office performance. After the success of NE ZHA, the sequel was put into production. The sequel is called "Nezha: The Demon Boy Havoc in the Sea", or NE ZHA 2 in English, and the cost increased to 600 million yuan, breaking the record of DEEP SEA (2023), to become China's most expensive animated film.
NE ZHA and NE ZHA 2 both took five years to produce with more than 4,000 people participating in the making of this film, more than double the 1,600 people in the first film. Producer Liu Wenzhang said that the number of characters in this film is three times that of the previous film and required additional animators to complete. The previous film had more than 1,800 shots, while this film has more than 2,400 shots, including more than 1,900 special effects shots.
View the Official International Trailer (https://filmworkshop.net/Video/trailers/NeZha2-Trailer.mp4)
A short making of video (https://filmworkshop.net/Video/BTS/NeZha2-Production.mp4) on how the film was made
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