Media365
Movie business is an unexpected one and the Chinese audience is proving this right. The newly released film Ne Zha 2 is doing tremendously well at the box office and is projected to become the first movie in the world to gross $1 billion from a single market. The difference between its budget and its projected earnings is mind-boggling, to say the least.
Released during the Chinese New Year period, Ne Zha 2, written and directed by Jiaozi, is set to become the biggest grosser in China by beating the 2021 release The Battle at Lake Changjin, which grossed RMB 5.77 billion ($800 million). The feat is incredible given Ne Zha 2 will get there within 10 days of its release.
The Ne Zha franchise is historically one of the biggest commercial hits at the Chinese box office and the sequel is just following in the footsteps of its predecessor. The first film, released in 2019, is the fifth-highest-grossing Chinese film of all time. Released on January 29, Ne Zha 2 took a massive opening of approximately $68 million before turning the game around during the Friday-Sunday weekend. It grossed around $666 million (RMB 4.84B) in the first 7 days. Moreover, the Chinese New Year period has been very lucrative, with the total collection of all films touching $1.3 billion. The Chinese box office saw an insane increase of 234% from the same period last year.
According to China Daily, Ne Zha 2 is also based on a Chinese mythological figure — the protective deity Ne Zha. The film’s script is based on a popular 17th century Chinese novel, The Investiture of the Gods, which is one of the first major literary works to feature “deities” and “demons” in Taoism and Buddhism.
