Ne Zha 2 (Chinese: 哪吒之魔童闹海; pinyin: Nézhā zhī Mótóng Nàohǎi; also known as 哪吒2; Nézhā Èr^[4]) is a 2025 Chinese animated fantasy adventure film, serving as the sequel to Ne Zha (2019), and the third film in Enlight Pictures' Fengshen Universe after Ne Zha and Jiang Ziya (2020).^[5] It was written and directed by Jiaozi, who also wrote and directed the first film. Like its predecessors, the film is loosely based on Chinese mythology stories and the 16th-century Chinese novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi) while also containing several creative differences.^[5] The film follows Ne Zha and Ao Bing, now spirits, as master Taiyi Zhenren plans to reconstruct the two's bodies with numerous conflicts jeopardizing the process.^[6]

The film was released in theaters across China on 29 January 2025, coinciding with the first day of Chinese New Year. It received positive reviews from critics and has grossed US $2 billion against a production budget of US $80 million, breaking multiple box-office records inside and outside of China. The film became the highest-grossing film in a single box office territory in its domestic market China, and globally became the highest-grossing animated film and the highest-grossing non-English language film, being the first non-English language film to gross $1 billion and $2 billion and the first animated film in history to hit $2 billion mark. It also ranks as the highest-grossing film of 2025 and the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time.

After Ne Zha and Ao Bing are struck by heavenly lightning together, their physical bodies are destroyed.^[a] To prevent their souls from dissipating, Master Taiyi Zhenren exhausts his Seven-colored Sacred Lotus to regenerate their physical bodies, though they are still fragile. Ao Bing's father, the Dragon King of the East Sea Ao Guang), believing his son is dead, mounts an attack on the town, releasing the monsters imprisoned under his palace, including the other three Dragon Kings of the Four Seas. Ao Bing defends Chentang Pass, but due to the effort exerted, his new body disintegrates.

Ao Guang makes a ceasefire deal: Ao Bing and Ne Zha will share Ne Zha's body for seven days, complete Immortal Wuliang's three trials for ascending to xian, and win a potion that will restore the Sacred Lotus and create a new body for Ao Bing; after that, Ao Guang's forces will retreat. In the trials, candidates complete missions supervised by and normally performed by the heavenly Taoist sect's demon-hunting forces. Ne Zha takes a sleeping pill to hide his demonic nature, allowing Ao Bing to fully control his body temporarily. They beat the first two trials against a rodent bandit clan and a master who trains demons to prepare for the xian trials, respectively.

In the meantime, Ao Guang tasks Master Shen Gongbao—a Leopard demon who has ascended to the sect's court—to supervise Chengtang Pass and the other three Dragon Kings. Gongbao is unexpectedly reunited with his younger brother, Shen Xiaobao, who tells him of the sect's siege and plunder of the Shen family's village—including Ne Zha's battle against the master, who is their father. Xiaobao dies in Gongbao's arms, having been mortally wounded in his attempt to protect his father during Ne Zha's second trial. While the sect prepares for the next trial, Chentang Pass is massacred by the dragons. Enraged, Ne Zha completes the third trial without Ao Bing's help, becoming xian and winning the potion. As Taiyi regenerates Ao Bing's body, Ne Zha abandons them to join Wuliang's forces in trapping the dragons in the sect's cauldron, where the dragons will be forged into elixirs as vengeance for Chentang Pass' destruction.

Ne Zha's parents arrive at the cauldron unharmed with Ao Bing and Master Taiyi to explain the truth. In a flashback, Wuliang attacks Chentang Pass. Gongbao deduces Wuliang's role in besieging the Shen family, only for the three Dragon Kings to betray their kind and join Wuliang. They massacre the townspeople and frame Ao Guang as casus belli to destroy the dragons and ensure the heavenly sect's domination. Gongbao takes a last stand to defend the city, buying enough time to arrange for Ne Zha's parents' survival.

The two parties battle until Wuliang manages to cast Ne Zha's group into the cauldron. Ne Zha's mother dies in her son’s arms. Enraged, Ne Zha absorbs the cauldron's samadhi fire, fully solidifying his new body. With the help of the dragons and prisoners, Ne Zha and Ao Bing break the cauldron. United, they force the heavenly forces to retreat. In the aftermath, Ao Guang leads the remaining dragons into hiding in the sea, with the exception of Ao Bing, who stays behind to help expose Wuliang's nature.

In a post-credits scene, Wuliang heads to a secret prison to negotiate with the captive Shen Gongbao and Shen's father, hoping to recruit them. Ne Zha's older xian brothers are also summoned to meet with Wuliang.

• Lü Yanting as the child Nezha, reincarnation of the Demon Orb, son of Li Jing and Lady Yin
  • Joseph Cao (囧森瑟夫) as the adolescent Nezha
• Han Mo as Ao Bing, reincarnation of the Spirit Pearl and the third son of Ao Guang, Dragon King of the East Sea
• Lü Qi as Lady Yin, Nezha's mother and the chieftess who governs Chentang Pass with her husband
• Zhang Jiaming as Taiyi Zhenren, Nezha's master, a Taoist xian who lives on the Kunlun
• Wang Deshun as Master xian Wuliang
• Yu Chen as Ao Guang in human form
  • Li Nan as Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea
• Zhou Yongxi as Ao Run, the Dragon Queen of the West Sea
• Yang Wei as Shen Gongbao, Taiyi's martial brother and Ao Bing's master

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.^[7]

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,^[8] 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.^[7]

On January 7, 2025, the film's first trailer was released.^[9] A second trailer was released on January 26, 2025.^[10]

The film was released in Mainland China on 29 January 2025 (the first day of the Chinese New Year) in 2D, 3D, IMAX, CINITY, CGS, Dolby Cinema and other formats.^[11][12][13] The film was released in Australia, New Zealand, and other countries on February 13, 2025, in the United States and Canada on February 14, and in Hong Kong and Macau on February 22.^[14][15]

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.^[16][17] On the fourth day of release, the box office exceeded 2 billion yuan.^[18] On the fifth day of release, it exceeded 3 billion yuan. It exceeded 4 billion yuan on only the sixth day of release, breaking the record for the fastest to reach 4 billion yuan set by Detective Chinatown 3 in 2021 (it took 9 days and 9 hours).^[19] The box office exceeded 5 billion (US$684 million) on the eighth day of release, breaking the record of 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,^[20] and the box office exceeded 6 billion on the ninth day of release.^[21]

As of 8 February 2025, the box office has exceeded 7.2 billion yuan, ranking first in the Chinese New Year period,^[22] surpassing Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) and The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) to become the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.^[23] On 8 February, 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.^[24] 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.^[25] It became the fastest-grossing animated film, surpassing the lifetime total of Inside Out 2 (2024) in less than 3 weeks of release to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It marks the first time a non-American, non-English-language animated film achieved this milestone, as well as the second non-Disney animated film to be labeled as such after Shrek 2 (2004), which also was the highest grossing film of its respective year.^{[26][27][28][29]}

At its premiere in Los Angeles on 12 February, the Grauman's Chinese Theatre sold out of tickets immediately upon release.^[30] The film grossed $7.2 million in its opening weekend in the United States, compared with its predecessor's $1.2 million opening weekend there.^[31][32]

Ne Zha 2 has received positive reviews from the critics.^[33][34][35] 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.^[36] 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."^[37] 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.^[38] Feng Ji, the founder of Game Science, also reviewed it positively.^[39]

The film's overwhelming success was widely noted by a variety of media outlets as unprecedented for Chinese and non-Hollywood cinema, several noting its implications for the movie industry as a whole. Many noted the success for the film was due to a variety of factors, such as fanfare and anticipation from fans of the first film, its release-timing around the holiday, word of mouth from the general public, and pride over the development and subsequent successes of Chinese animated blockbusters over the years, as exemplified by recent films such as White Snake (2019), Ne Zha, Jiang Ziya, Deep Sea and Chang'an (both 2023).^[40][41] After the film was released, its box office continued to rise due to excellent word of mouth. Many took to social media to voice that it was difficult to get tickets to the film. Netizens took to the producers' social media to call for more showings to be scheduled to meet the audience's viewing needs. In some areas, midnight showings were completely full, which was noted as a rare phenomena.^[42][43][44]

Ne Zha 2 is noted for its high cultural significance in China, with several commentators calling it a positive sign in Chinese cinema's potential to rival traditional Hollywood cinema. Many netizens took to social media to voice pride for the film's success. Simultaneously, the film inspired direct comparisons between it and Captain America: Brave New World (2025), which was released in China around the same time.^[45] Many Ne Zha 2 supporters in China criticized Captain America for its lack of appeal, soulless structure, and hypocritical presentation of the United States. The latter's negative word-of-mouth in China caused it to massively decline in performance in the country.^[45] In response, Chinese viewers called for boycotts of Captain America in the hopes of it being commercially unsuccessful in China while also benefitting Ne Zha 2's final lifetime box-office.^[46][47]

Internationally, Ne Zha 2 saw similar box-office success, with particular popularity among the Chinese diaspora in various countries.^[48] It was reported the film inspired New Zealand viewers to visit China, many lauding the film's presentation and depictions of Chinese culture.^[49]

Official merchandises and toys associated with the film became best-selling across stores in China; many stores reported that Ne Zha 2 products completely sold out.^[50][51] After the film's release, sales of Ne Zha merchandises exceeded 50 million yuan online on e-commerce platform Taobao.^[52] Within 2 weeks of the film's release, over 400 million yuan in sales were generated from branded merchandises.^[53]

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.^[54]

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