Ne Zha 2

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (February 2025) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 381 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:哪吒之魔童闹海]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|zh|哪吒之魔童闹海}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Ne Zha 2
Theatrical release poster
Traditional Chinese	哪吒之魔童鬧海
Simplified Chinese	哪吒之魔童闹海
Hanyu Pinyin	Nézhā zhī Mótóng Nàohǎi
Directed by	Jiaozi (Yang Yu)
Screenplay by	Jiaozi (Yang Yu)
Based on	Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin
Produced by	Liu Wenzhang Wang Jing
Music by	Roc Chen Rui Yang Wan Pin Chu
Production companies	Chengdu Coco Cartoon Co.,Ltd Beijing Enlight Media Beijing Enlight Pictures Chengdu Zizai Jingjie Culture Media Co.,Ltd Beijing Coloroom Technology Co.,Ltd
Distributed by	Beijing Enlight Pictures CMC Pictures (Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada)
Release date	29 January 2025 (2025-01-29)
Running time	144 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin
Budget	600 million RMB[1] ($82.7 million)
Box office	US$1.6 billion[2]

Ne Zha 2 (Chinese: 哪吒之魔童闹海; pinyin: Nézhā zhī Mótóng Nàohǎi; also known as 哪吒2; Nézhā Èr^[3]) is a 2025 Chinese animated fantasy adventure film, written and directed by Jiaozi. It is the sequel to the 2019 film Ne Zha.^[4] The film is loosely based on the 16th century Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi), while the protagonist is based on the traditional Chinese mythological figure Nezha.

Ne Zha 2 was released in theaters in China on 29 January 2025 (first day of Chinese New Year) in standard 2D and 3D, IMAX, CINITY and CINITY LED, CGS, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, and other formats.^[5][6] As with its predecessor, it received critical acclaim, and having grossed US$1.6 billion on a US$82.7 million budget, it broke multiple box-office records, including becoming the highest-grossing film in China and the highest grossing non-English language film, alongside being the highest-grossing film not produced in the United States and the first of those achievements to reach the $1 billion mark. It also sits as the third-highest-grossing animated film, the highest-grossing film of 2025 and the 11th-highest-grossing film of all time.^[7][8][9] On the 11th day of its release, Ne Zha 2 became the highest grossing film in a single box office 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.^[10]

Ne Zha and Ne Zha 2, along with Jiang Ziya (2020), are part of Enlight Pictures' Fengshen Universe.^[4]

This section needs expansion with: February 2025. You can help by adding to it. (February 2025)

After Ne Zha and Ao Bing sacrifice themselves using the Chaos Pearl's energy,^[a] their physical bodies are destroyed, while their souls live on; Taiyi Zhenren attempts to use the seven-colored lotus to reshape their physical bodies, but encounters numerous difficulties. Meanwhile, Shen Gongbao releases the Four Dragon Kings, long-imprisoned in the deep sea, with Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea, declaring that nothing would be left in Chentangguan; Ne Zha has to battle them to defend his home.

This section needs expansion with: February 2025. You can help by adding to it. (February 2025)

Shortly 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 "Ne zha: The Demon Boy Havoc in the Sea", or Ne Zha 2 in English, and the cost increased to 600 million yuan, breaking the 200 million yuan record of Deep Sea (2023), to become China's most expensive animated film.^[11]

Ne Zha and Ne Zha 2 both took five years to produce. More than 4,000 people across 138 animation companies participated in the creation of the film,^[12] 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. 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.^[13]

Ne Zha 2 has received positive reviews.^[14][15][16] Douban Movies scored the film 8.5/10, and the film also had an average rating of 9.7 out of 10 on Maoyan and 9.8 out of 10 on Taopiaopiao.^[17] Red Star News praised its special effects, script, and concept, and said that the film "uses a solid script and accurate expression of values, proving that 'respect for the audience' is the real box office password."^[18] Shangguan News praised the film for continuing the style and rhythm of the previous film, and the further improvement of the battle and special effects scenes, but criticized the lack of suspense in the plot.^[19] Feng Ji, the founder of Game Science, also reviewed it positively.^[20]

In three days after its release in China, the film's box office reached 1.1 billion yuan, which became the first movie to reach 1 billion yuan (US$137 million) in box office during the Chinese New Year in 2025.^[21][22] On the fourth day of release, the box office exceeded 2 billion yuan.^[23] On the fifth day of release, it exceeded 3 billion yuan. It exceeded 4 billion yuan on only the sixth day of release, entering the top ten in film history. At the same time, it broke the record for the fastest time to break 4 billion yuan set by Detective Chinatown 3 in 2021 (it took 9 days and 9 hours).^[24] The box office exceeded 5 billion (US$684 million) on the eighth day of release, breaking the record of breaking 5 billion set by The Battle at Lake Changjin, the box office champion in mainland China in 2021 (it took 19 days and 9 hours), and surpassed the total box office of the first Ne Zha film, becoming the highest grossing animated film in mainland China. The Ne Zha film series also became the second film series to exceed 10 billion yuan (US$1.37 billion) with just two movies,^[25] and the box office exceeded 6 billion on the ninth day of release.^[26]

After the film was released, its box office continued to rise due to its excellent word of mouth. Many took to social media to voice that it was hard to even get a ticket, and many netizens took to the producers' social media to call for more showings to be scheduled to meet the audience's viewing needs. In some places, there were even rare phenomena such as midnight showings being completely full.^[27][28][29] Due to the film's box office performance, the film's producer and distributor, Enlight Media, saw its shares rise by the daily limit after the Chinese New Year.^[30]

As of February 8, 2025, the box office has exceeded 7.2 billion yuan, ranking first in the Chinese New Year period,^[31] surpassing Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) and The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) to become the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.^[32] On February 8, the box office exceeded 7 billion yuan (US$958 million), becoming the 63rd film to cross the 7 billion yuan mark worldwide, and the first non-Hollywood film to do so.^[33] It also surpassed the single territory box office record of US$936.7 million set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), 11 days into its release.^[34] By February 13, the film had earned over 10 billion yuan (US$1.37 billion), surpassing the gross of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and became the fourth-highest grossing animated film.^[35]

Due to the film's success, official merchandises and toys associated with the film also became best-selling across stores in China. It was reported that many products are completely sold out.^[36][37] The film had partnered up with 23 brands and within 2 weeks of the film's release had generated over 400 million yuan (US$55 million) in sales from co-branded merchandise.^[38]

• Ne Zha 2 at IMDb
• Ne Zha 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ne Zha 2 at Douban (in Chinese)