Mallory Denis

“Ne Zha 2” and “KPop Demon Hunters,” two highly successful films, were screened in theaters over the August 22 weekend, with wildly different outcomes. Images courtesy of Beijing Enlight Pictures/A24 and Netflix.

What is the highest grossing movie of 2025?

Several movies may have popped into your mind immediately, such as “A Minecraft Movie,” which grossed an incredible $955 million worldwide. What about “Lilo & Stitch,” which, riding a wave of millennial nostalgia mixed with family appeal, crossed the threshold of $1 billion? While they’re good guesses, neither is correct.

“Ne Zha 2” is a Chinese animated movie originally released in China on January 29, 2025. It is the first animated movie to pass a $2 billion dollar gross, the highest grossing animated movie of all time, and the fifth highest grossing movie ever. Then why haven’t you heard of it?

Well, 98% of its gross came from a single market: China. Though it received a limited release in the USA earlier this year, A24 has enlisted a voice cast for a new English dub, which received a wide release in premium formats like IMAX 3D on Friday, August 22.

As may be obvious from its title, “Ne Zha 2” is a follow-up to the 2019 film “Ne Zha.” Both films are based on the Chinese mythological legend of Nezha, a deity. The second film picks up immediately after the first one ends, with main characters Ne Zha (Crystal Lee) and Ao Bing (Aleks Le) having just saved the town of Chentang Pass from destruction. However, Ao Bing’s body shatters, and his soul has to share Ne Zha’s body until the heroes can recreate his.

From there, it gets… confusing. The story is fast-paced, and though it’s not hard to understand large plot points, some things don’t really make sense scene-to-scene. I watched the first film prior to viewing “Ne Zha 2,” and I still felt lost. The plot very much seemed like an afterthought.

By far its greatest strength is the battle scenes, which are complimented by the outrageously good animation. The film seems to be taking inspiration from Japanese battle shonen anime, with extensive and escalating conflicts. The choreography is wonderfully inventive, and characters pull off some surprising moves, so the fights never get boring or repetitive. There is combat aplenty in the movie (with most of it inexplicably taking place in the sky), and all of it delivers stunning action set within an impressive variety of set pieces, from a towering waterfall, atop of which a demon master teaches apprentices; to a dusty desert, which is inhabited by large gophers. I saw the film in 3D, and each grand battle was breathtaking.

One of the film’s other strengths is the cast of characters. There’s a wide range of archetypes featured, so everyone can find a favorite. The designs are strong, with many characters having unique weapons or abilities. Each one is impeccably realized, thanks again to the flashy animation.

Interestingly, there is a movie released in theaters over the very same weekend that I could say a lot of the same things about. That movie is “KPop Demon Hunters,” which had a two-day singalong event on August 23 and 24. Just like “Ne Zha 2,” “KPop Demon Hunters” favors creativity and artistic style over much narrative substance, with fun fights and a lovable cast of characters. While “Ne Zha 2” has dominated the box office for the year, “KPop Demon Hunters” has conquered the Netflix and Billboard charts. And despite only being released on 1,700 screens last weekend, versus 2,500 for “Ne Zha 2,” it grossed almost 20 times more than “Ne Zha 2.”

Though “KPop Demon Hunters” had been available to stream on Netflix for two months already when it was released in theaters, it still grossed between $18 million and $20 million domestically over the weekend (Netflix doesn’t publicize box office numbers, so these are estimates). In comparison, “Ne Zha 2” only managed $1.5 million—even with the boon of one additional day (Friday), as well as a much wider release. What’s to do with such a massive gap?

Well, “Ne Zha 2” originally released in America all the way back in February, where it managed approximately $20 million, even with no English dub. Around this time, lots of movie fans heard about its record-breaking achievements, and it had hype—albeit not a lot. Though it wasn’t in English, and American viewers had to rely on subtitles to understand dialogue, people still showed up to see it, excited to be a part of a bona fide foreign movement. Now, six months later, the cultural excitement about the film has died. A24 waited far too long to capitalize on the film’s success in China, and it is too late for “Ne Zha 2” to truly break through in the West.

Contrast that to the extreme excitement surrounding “KPop Demon Hunters,” which began soon after the film’s release in June and is still ongoing. People love the animation style, the Korean cultural influence on the film, the music, the mythology, and the characters. It’s such a success that the film is even being compared to Disney’s sensation “Frozen.” Love for the film is being further propagated daily by viral shorts on social media and the charting songs. With the music being such a defining part of the film’s success, a sing-along version is only natural, and since Netflix caught the wave of hype perfectly, it resulted in a success for the typically theater-averse streamer.

The audience for “KPop Demon Hunters” is also much larger than the audience for “Ne Zha 2.” The shonen influence of “Ne Zha 2” comes into play in more areas than just the battles, and the film features a lot of juvenile humor mainly concerning bodily functions, which clearly indicates that it’s meant for children. Bloody cartoon violence further limits its audience. On top of all that, the movie is two hours and 24 minutes long, meaning many kids may end up sleeping through the latter half of it. 

Meanwhile, “KPop Demon Hunters” has a story that—though sometimes cliche—can appeal to people of all ages, from young children to their adult parents who are forced to watch it over and over and may discover that it’s not bad. It has a snappy 96-minute runtime and features catchy songs that people want to hear on repeat. General appeal can never hurt a movie, and this factor combined with the different levels of excitement for the movies as of last weekend surely contributed to the vast difference in domestic gross.

Not only has “Ne Zha 2” lost in every category to “KPop Demon Hunters” last weekend, A24 may have also essentially ruined their chances of snatching a coveted Best Animated Feature nomination at the 98th Academy Awards. It’s not that the movie is not eligible, but making such a small splash in America so close to awards season is pretty much a death knell. While the Chinese studios behind “Ne Zha 2” probably do not care, A24 made a big gamble, and lost. Netflix is likely rejoicing, as a nomination for their family hit is all but guaranteed.

Time will tell how it ultimately pans out, but these two extremely similar films having such drastically different outcomes over the same three days serves as an excellent case study on how the way a film is managed can make or break success. With “KPop Demon Hunters” having recently become Netflix’s most viewed film, both films are surely receiving sequels, and we can revisit this faceoff in five years.