'Ne Zha 2' cracks global top 18 amid overseas release

(ECNS) -- Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 continues to set new box office records, with revenue exceeding 9.808 billion yuan ($1.345 billion) on Thursday afternoon.

It has surpassed the 2018 American superhero film Black Panther, becoming the first Asian film to enter top 18 on global box office chart.

As of 5:36 p.m. Wednesday, Ne Zha 2 had made over $1.306 billion, surpassing the 2013 musical fantasy Frozen to become the fourth highest-grossing non-Hollywood animated film of all time.

Premiering in Sydney on Tuesday night, the animated blockbuster was well received by overseas audiences, who praised it as a perfect "10 out of 10" and lauded the top-notch quality of the animation.

The production of Ne Zha 2 involved nearly 140 animation companies and over 4,000 staff members, with the number of characters three times more than that of the first film in 2019.

According to its producer, the success of Ne Zha 2 is inevitable because of the director’s perseverance, unwavering focus, and relentless pursuit of artistic excellence.

"Our initial goal was to set targets that seemed nearly impossible to achieve. We set a high bar and then pushed ourselves to the limit to reach it, aiming to see just how far we could go," Yang Yu, the director better known as “Jiaozi,” said in a recent interview.

Now, the Ne Zha film series has achieved a total box office of 14.632 billion yuan ($2.01 billion), surpassing products of renowned director Zhang Yimou while Jiaozi also secured a spot among the top three directors in China’s box office rankings.

A Chinese film audience satisfaction survey gave it 87.3 points, making it the highest-rated film of the past two years during the Spring Festival release period.

Notably, China’s 3D animation technology and production capabilities now rank among the world’s best. Ne Zha 2 features several highly difficult visual effects shots that fell short of expectations when produced by top overseas studios, but were ultimately completed by domestic teams.

The animation, hailed as a milestone in Chinese film history, took five years to complete -- two years longer than initially planned. The next sequel is slated for release in 2028.