Chinese Film Tops Two-Billion-Dollar Benchmark, Upsets Pixar's Inside Out 2 Global Gross

 

No one would have seen it coming that a film from China would top the $2 billion grossing benchmark, and not even that for an animated film will join the top ranking films ever to have reached that milestone. Last weekend, a Chinese film joined the likes of Avatar 1 and 2, Avengers, and Titanic in the box office chart of all-time biggest grossers. 

Ne Zha 2, a Chinese animated fantasy adventure film, notched the two-billion-mark globally to become the highest-grossing non-English film. It has toppled Pixar's Inside Out 2 position as the all-time highest-grossing animated film. In a time when most films struggled to perform, the fantasy film on a 16th-century Chinese story is having no trouble surpassing its predecessors. 

Inspired by Chinese mythology of Gods and demons, Ne Zha was theatrically released in January and quickly captured the crowd. Within weeks of its release, it recorded over a billion ticket sales and quickly became successful in China, being a film of an $80 million budget. 

Ne Zha's success is attributed to its political undertone, which appealed to the patriotic views of the country's populace. Otherwise, just like in other domestic markets, the Chinese market is also understood to be struggling with sales. Despite being a low-budget film, it trailed Titanic in the ranks of the highest-grossing films ever. Should it surpass Titanic, it will become the fourth highest-grossing film ever. 

Based on Chinese mythology, Ne Zha is portrayed as a demon child brought up by the locals, with a prediction that he will cause a lot of trouble, but can choose otherwise. The storyline is captivating to its Chinese audience and has also recorded success in Europe within weeks of its release in March.