The biggest movie of 2025 just ended its historic box office run, and most audiences stateside have probably never seen it (or let alone, heard of it). Thus far, the 2025 box office story has been headlined by hits like Ryan Coogler's Sinners, the video game-tinged romp Minecraft, and animated-to-live-action remakes like Lilo & Stitch, but one name stands above even these that fans in the West might be unfamiliar with. China's Ne Zha 2 has proven to be the most unlikely story of the year so far at the movies, earning a truly bonkers figure at the box office despite a lack of any meaningful western release.
This week marked the end of Ne Zha 2's domestic box office run in its home territory of China, etching the film in the annals of movie history as one of not just the biggest films of the year but ever. The foreign language animated adventure was released over the Lunar New Year in January, where it would go on a tear in China, knocking off major Hollywood hits like Avengers: Endgame and Avatar at the Chinese box office.
According to EntGroup, Ne Zha 2 ended its global box office run at $2.215 billion, making it the biggest movie in Chinese history (Hollywood-produced or not) and the fifth highest-grossing film ever.
See below for the top 5 highest-grossing movies of all time:
- Avatar ($2.923 billion)
- Avengers: Endgame ($2.797 billion)
- Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.320 billion)
- Titanic ($2.257 billion)
- Ne Zha 2 ($2.215 billion)
The movie now stands as the biggest animated movie ever as well, as well as the movie to make the most money from a single territory (in $2.13 billion in China).
This is a genuinely incredible mark, considering the animated adventure is still relatively unknown in the West. Ne Zha 2 only managed to make just under $21 million, which is less than 1% of its global gross made in North America.
For comparison, something like 2009's Avatar made roughly 26% of its global earnings in the domestic market, rocketing it to the top of the all-time box office list.
The next highest-grossing movie of the year so far is Warner Bros.'s A Minecraft Movie, which has not even crossed $1 billion ($954,441,548 globally as of June 30, 2025).
For comparison, here are some of 2025's biggest movies so far ranked by box office total:
- Ne Zha 2 ($2.215 billion)
- A Minecraft Movie ($954.4 million)
- Lilo & Stitch ($945.9 million)
- Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning ($562 million)
- How to Train Your Dragon ($456 million)
Ne Zha 2 is loosely based on the Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods. It follows a young boy's spirit as he attempts to rebuild his spirit after a world-ending calamity. The film serves as a follow-up to the 2019 film Ne Zha, which was a moderate box office hit in its own right.
The record-shattering animated epic was first released in Chinese cinemas in January of this year and then got a limited Western release shortly after. Currently, there is no way to watch the Jiaozi-directed blockbuster stateside, and no word on a digital release has been made public yet.
Will Anything Dethrone Ne Zha 2 as the Biggest Movie of the Year?
Forever, any conversation about 2025 at the movies will have to mention Ne Zha 2 and its (at least to onlookers in the West) unlikely run to box office glory overseas.
However, with six months left in the year, there is still a relatively small chance that something could surpass it and take the top spot as the year's biggest movie.
Looking ahead at the theatrical calendar, only a few movies can match Ne Zha 2's box office total. No 2025 movie other than the Chinese animated blockbuster has hit $1 billion at the global box office, let alone $2.2 billion. But that does not mean it cannot happen.
Looking ahead, three movies seem to have a shot at hitting that $2 billion mark: Superman, Fantastic Four, and Avatar 3.
Superman marks the grand return of the long-standing comic book hero to the big screen and the official launching-off point of James Gunn's in-the-works DCU. While superhero movie box office totals are not what they used to be, the excitement surrounding Superman is palpable, but it will need to put in the work if it wants to get near Ne Zha.
Fantastic Four has a similar problem to Superman. Yes, the movie will usher in a new era for the super-powered team as they make their Marvel Studios debut nearly 20 years after the launch of the MCU, but fans have not been going out to the theater for comic book movies like they once did.
This, paired with the sentiment that Marvel's box office prospects may be withering on the vine (especially after the recent financial failings of Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*), makes Fantastic Four's path to box office glory an uphill battle, but one that could potentially get there if audiences get out and see the new movie.
The most likely candidate to challenge Ne Zha for the king of the ticket window in 2025 is James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash (aka Avatar 3). The Avatar franchise has grossed over $5 billion at the global box office across its two movies to date.
The upcoming third film will look to cash in again, with the first two films already occupying two of the four spots above Ne Zha 2 on the all-time global box office list.
