On February 13, according to data from Lighthouse Professional Edition, the global cumulative box office (including pre-sales) of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" officially exceeded 10 billion, becoming the first 10 billion box office film in Asia. It is currently ranked 17th in the global film history box office and 3rd in the global animated film, and continues to rise.
Data source: Lighthouse Professional Edition
Many domestic media and platforms also witnessed this exciting moment with fans through live countdown and other means.
From the constant hot discussions in the streets and alleys of China to the hot popularity in overseas markets, the success of "Nezha 2" is by no means accidental. It carries the hard work and dreams of countless animators. After five years of polishing, it has finally blossomed with the most dazzling light.
The popularity of Nezha 2 continues, attracting a wider range of people to the cinema, and there are also many viewers who choose to go to the cinema for a second or third viewing. Another slightly cruel reality is that the Chinese film market is experiencing an unprecedented "siphon effect". This animated film swept the market in February with a 72.3% box office share, with an average daily audience of over 10 million and a single-day box office peak of 870 million, almost squeezing the films of the same period to the edge. The upcoming Valentine's Day and many new films in mid-to-late February will face even more brutal competition.
There is still plenty of room for imagination after breaking the 10 billion mark
According to the Lighthouse Professional Edition global box office chart, as of 10:02 on February 13, the total box office (including pre-sales) of the film "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" exceeded 1.338 billion US dollars, surpassing "Deadpool and Wolverine" to enter the top 20 of the global box office chart. At around 5 pm on the same day, "Nezha 2" surpassed the world-famous "Frozen" and entered the top three of the global animation box office chart.
After surpassing "The Battle at Lake Changjin" to become the champion in Chinese film history, "Nezha 2" not only took the lead by a large margin, leaving other films behind by more and more positions, but also truly opened up the public's experience and understanding of the ceiling of the Chinese film market.
When "Nezha 2" surpassed "Wolf Warrior 2" to top the box office, Wu Jing sent a congratulatory message on Weibo.
As the box office grew too fast, the "breaking XX billion" node poster that the film company usually released during the release process was upgraded to a "director's hand-drawn version" for "Nezha". Netizens' urging for more updates could not be stopped. On Weibo, topics such as #Director Jiaozi is still drawing# and #Jiaozi: If I had known, I would have drawn billions# were high on the hot search list.
Netizens pieced together the box office poster hand-painted by Jiaozi.
After reaching the 10 billion milestone, there is still room for growth for "Nezha 2".
According to the Lighthouse database, more than 42% of the audience aged 30-39 years old of "Nezha 2" is particularly prominent compared to the market average, which has broadened the audience of animated films and made those born after 1995 and 1990, who are the main audience groups in the market, also very fond of the film.
In addition, the hot performance of "Nezha 2" not only attracted a large number of new audiences, but also became a new vitality in the film market, making the proportion of new users of the film the highest among the new films in the Spring Festival this year. Lighthouse analyst Chen Jin revealed, "We also counted the last film watched by the audience who watched "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King". The largest number of viewers still watched "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King", which shows that a large number of viewers went to the cinema to watch "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" for the second or even third time. The top ten films in the same period include "Detective Chinatown 1900" and "Investiture of the Gods Part II: Battle of Xiqi"... Many viewers who did not choose "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" as their first choice in the Spring Festival this year quickly went to the cinema to watch it."
This fully demonstrates that "Nezha 2" has "recalled back" a large number of low-frequency audiences in the market. Such a result is mainly due to the high quality and high reputation of the film, which quickly broke through the circle. The film scored 9.7 points on Tao Piao Piao and 8.5 points on Douban, which has won the recognition of a large number of ordinary audiences and fans.
Judging from the popularity of topics on social networks, the discussion of "Nezha 2" continues to be high. There are new hot search terms about this movie on Weibo every day, extending from the exploration of the plot to the discussion behind the production and future expectations. The number of views of related special effects challenges on Douyin has exceeded 100 million, and topics related to "Oubing CP" frequently appear on the hot list. These online popularity not only drives secondary creation, but also attracts more potential audiences.
From the perspective of word-of-mouth communication, "Nezha 2" has maintained high scores on major rating platforms. The audience has given high praise to its plot, special effects, and character creation. This good reputation has become the "invisible publicity" of the film. The excellent quality of the film has attracted more viewers through word of mouth. Like before, "Hello, Li Huanying", "The Wandering Earth", "Operation Red Sea" and other films have achieved continuous box office growth by relying on word-of-mouth counterattacks.
Overseas markets are also a big potential point for the box office growth of "Nezha 2". According to reports, the total number of screenings of "Nezha 2" in North America exceeded 700 theaters, and the pre-sale box office exceeded the first weekend box office of Chinese films in the past 20 years; the total number of screenings in Australia and New Zealand exceeded 116, winning the box office champion of pre-screenings in Australia and New Zealand for Chinese films in the past 20 years, and basically sold out at the opening. Starting from February 13, "Nezha 2" will be released in Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries and regions. The vast overseas market undoubtedly provides ample room for the box office growth of "Nezha 2" after it exceeds 10 billion.
Overall, whether it is the popularity on social networks, word-of-mouth communication, or the potential in overseas markets, it shows that "Nezha 2" still has a lot of room for growth after breaking the 10 billion box office.
In addition, as an IP, "Nezha 2" also performed very well in the derivative industry chain, and its peripheral product sales were "hard to come by."
The "Nezha 2" series of key chains, shaped buckets, topper cups, acrylic colored paper, figurine blind boxes, badge blind bags, cotton dolls and other products are highly sought after by fans and trendy toy enthusiasts. Many popular products have been sold out or require long pre-sales, and some products have been shipped until the end of June. On a certain e-commerce platform, the "Nezha 2" blind box of the Pop Mart flagship store ranked first on the best-selling list, and the pre-sale delivery time of its "Born to Bond" series figurines is scheduled until the end of June. In many blind box stores, most "Nezha 2" peripheral products are out of stock.
"Nezha 2" blind box "restocking"
According to the reporter's observation, many viewers who have not yet entered the theaters have just returned from the long Spring Festival holiday, and some want to wait for the Spring Festival to pass and the ticket prices to cool down. However, as the topic continues to ferment, there are still a large number of viewers waiting to go to the theater to watch the movie. With the current good momentum, the box office journey of "Nezha 2" is far from over.
Under the "siphon effect" of blockbuster movies, other movies are "seeking attention"
When the box office of "Nezha 2" broke the 10 billion mark on February 13, the Chinese film market was experiencing an unprecedented "siphon effect", which was not only reflected in the data, but also in the "survival rules" of theater scheduling. According to reports, in the more down-to-earth market, some county theaters increased the proportion of "Nezha 2" in the scheduling to 85%, and the prime time was sold out a week in advance, while other films could only share the unpopular time in the early morning or on weekdays. A cinema manager admitted: "The market should have cooled down after the Spring Festival, but "Nezha 2" gave the theaters an adrenaline shot, and we had to bet all our resources on it."
Valentine's Day on February 14 is traditionally a small peak for movie-watching. This year, there are five new films joining the battle: the Marvel superhero film "Captain America 4", the sci-fi horror blockbuster "Mutants", the 4K restored version of Wong Kar-wai's classic re-screening "In the Mood for Love", and two romance films "How Lucky to Meet You" and "The Sea".
Pre-sale and screening status for Valentine's Day.
However, with the strong dominance of "Nezha 2", the space available for these new films is very limited. According to the Lighthouse Professional Edition, in the pre-sale on Valentine's Day, February 14, "Nezha 2" still accounted for more than 74% of the box office, and the screening accounted for 54.1%, with 205,280 screenings, nearly eight times the pre-sale box office runner-up "In the Mood for Love", which shows that theaters highly recognize its box office appeal. The Hollywood special effects blockbuster "Captain America 4" only accounted for 12.8% of the prime screenings in China, and some theaters continued to reserve IMAX theaters for "Nezha 2".
In mid-to-late February, many good movies with novel ideas and rich content are waiting for the audience to enter the cinema. The 4K restored version of "In the Mood for Love" will reproduce the unique style of Hong Kong in the 1960s on the big screen. Wong Kar-wai's special director's edition not only improves the picture quality, but also adds a new "cinema-only" section. Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung's affectionate kiss across half a century is "only visible in cinemas" and will not be released on streaming media in the future, in order to express support for cinemas.
The Color of You, which was released on February 21, and Life of Cats, which was released on February 28, are completely different from Nezha 2, but equally moving and beautiful animations. The former is the first original feature film by Japanese female director Naoko Yamada, who even Japanese director Makoto Shinkai is jealous of, and won the Best Animated Feature Film at the Shanghai Film Festival last year. Life of Cats from Latvia received acclaim after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and also won the Best Animated Feature Film at this year's Golden Globe Awards.
Released on February 22, "The Way of the Weird Genius" is a unique Chinese "ghost film" produced by the producer of last year's dark horse Taiwanese film "Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils". The film is very imaginative, setting a world where humans and ghosts coexist. The plot revolves around a group of "professional" ghosts who question the meaning of their own existence. In the hilarious and heartwarming events, the daily life of ghosts is presented from a unique perspective, finding a perfect balance between comedy and horror. The film also received excellent word-of-mouth after it was released in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other regions last year.
As of February 12, the 2025 annual movie box office (including pre-sales) has exceeded 17.4 billion, which is the best start for the Chinese film market in history. In February, the monthly box office exceeded 10 billion in just 11 days. This week, it will easily break the highest monthly box office record in Chinese film history.
The huge box office success of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" has laid a solid foundation for the performance of the film market throughout the year, and has also allowed the entire industry to see that the Chinese film market has huge consumption potential. The film has a very high content of special effects, and the box office performance of special effects theaters such as IMAX, CINITY, and LED is outstanding, making the audience feel the necessity of going to the cinema to watch movies. This is of great significance to the subsequent industrial upgrading and technological innovation of the film market. At the same time, it also sets an example for IP development for Chinese films, enhances the influence of Chinese film brands, and strengthens the competitiveness of Chinese films in the international market.
It is true that the 10 billion box office of "Nezha 2" is a coming-of-age ceremony for the industrialization of Chinese animation and a milestone in cultural confidence, but the prosperity of the film market is by no means achieved by one or two blockbusters, but requires a healthy, diverse and sustainable industrial ecology. Beyond myths, there should be stars. Driven by "Nezha 2", many audiences who have not been to the cinema for a long time have returned to the cinema space, which fully proves that as long as there is good content, audiences of all ages are still willing to go to the cinema. Therefore, while wishing "Nezha" and the director dumplings, we also look forward to more "dumplings" with different fillings being put into the pot.
