Disney’s live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch is shattering box office expectations, with the studio recently announcing the film has officially surpassed the coveted billion-dollar mark worldwide. The achievement makes the reimagining of the 2002 animated classic the first Motion Picture Association (MPA) release of 2025 to hit that milestone, marking a significant win for the studio. However, while the celebration is well-deserved, a wider look at the global market reveals that the little blue alien was not the first character to smash the billion-dollar barrier this year. That title belongs to the Chinese animated sequel Ne Zha 2, which has not just earned a billion dollars but has already stormed past the $2.2 billion mark, almost entirely on the strength of its domestic release in China alone.
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The colossal success of Ne Zha 2 is the result of a cultural and box office phenomenon that began in 2019. The first film, Ne Zha, stunned the industry by earning over $726 million worldwide, a figure that made it the second highest-grossing non-English language film of all time, behind only the Chinese war epic The Battle at Lake Changjin’s $902 million. Its performance in its home country was even more historic. With a Chinese domestic gross of around $719 million, it shattered the record for the highest-grossing animated film in a single market, a title previously held by Incredibles 2, which earned $608 million in North America.
Ne Zha‘s success established a massive built-in audience and set sky-high expectations for a sequel, which the filmmakers delivered on in spectacular fashion. Together, both films provide a clear picture of a monumental shift in the global box office landscape, underlining how China alone can generate revenue on a scale that rivals the biggest Hollywood tentpoles.
Ne Zha 2‘s Unprecedented Single Market Power
The box office performance of Ne Zha 2 is a testament to the sheer power of the modern Chinese film market. Upon its release on January 29, 2025, to coincide with the Chinese New Year, the film immediately began to dismantle records. It set a new high for the biggest single-day gross for an animated film in China, earning over 700 million yuan (approximately $96 million) on its first day. It then became the fastest film in Chinese history to cross the 10 billion yuan (approximately $1.38 billion) threshold, doing so in just seven days.
Ne Zha 2‘s total gross in China now stands at a staggering 15.44 billion yuan, which translates to roughly $2.13 billion. This number represents the highest box office gross for any film within a single country, surpassing the previous record held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which earned $936.6 million in North America. This means Ne Zha 2 earned over $1.19 billion more in its domestic market than the previous record holder did in its own.
To fully appreciate the scale of Ne Zha 2‘s achievement, it is currently the fifth highest−grossing film of all time, having surpassed fan-favorite blockbusters like Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.07 billion) and Avengers: Infinity War ($2.05 billion). The only films that have earned more are James Cameron’s Titanic ($2.25 billion), Avatar: The Way of Water ($2.32 billion), Avengers: Endgame ($2.79 billion), and the all-time champion, the original Avatar ($2.92 billion). This makes Ne Zha 2 the only non-American and non-English language film in the all-time top ten.
Its performance within the animation genre is even more dominant. With its $2.215 billion haul, Ne Zha 2 is the highest-grossing animated film in history by an enormous margin. The second-place film is Disney’s 2019 photorealistic remake of The Lion King, which earned $1.663 billion worldwide. Ne Zha 2 has outgrossed the previous record holder by more than $550 million, a figure that is larger than the entire global gross of many successful animated blockbusters.
What Hollywood Can Learn From Ne Zha 2
The staggering success of Ne Zha 2 is a direct challenge to Hollywood’s dominant financial model, which has become increasingly unsustainable. The key lesson lies in its astounding profitability. With a reported budget of around $80 million, the film’s $2.215 billion return represents an astronomical 27-to-1 return on investment. For comparison, Avengers: Endgame, one of the most successful films in history, had a production budget of around $356 million and a worldwide gross of $2.79 billion, a multiplier of less than eight. For films like Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps (with a reported budget over $200 million) or DC’s Superman (with a $225 million net budget), the break-even point often sits in the daunting $600−$700 million range. Meanwhile, even if Ne Zha 2 has stopped at $500 million, the movie would already be highly profitable.
Furthermore, Ne Zha 2‘s domestic triumph highlights a critical shift in the international landscape. Once considered a reliable market that could push Hollywood tentpoles into the billion-dollar club, China’s box office has increasingly favored homegrown productions. The success of films like Ne Zha 2 proves that the Chinese audience is not suffering from theater-going fatigue but is instead more enthusiastic than ever for culturally resonant stories that reflect its own heritage and values. For Hollywood, this means the old strategy of simply securing a Chinese release date is insufficient. To reclaim a significant share of that market and achieve the record-breaking global grosses of the pre-pandemic era, studios must fundamentally rethink their approach to international audiences, moving beyond superficial representation and toward creating films with genuine cross-cultural appeal.
The billion-dollar success of Lilo & Stitch is a monumental win for the Walt Disney Company as a whole, providing a crucial success after several of the studio’s other major 2025 releases ended as high-profile financial disappointments. For instance, Marvel Studios saw two of its major releases falter, as both Captain America: Brave New World‘s $415.1 million box office and Thunderbolts* $381.9 million failed to recoup their costs. Plus, the live-action reimagining of Snow White became a significant box office failure, earning only $205 million globally against a massive production budget reported to be between $240 and $270 million. Furthermore, the company’s animation arm also suffered a major blow, as Pixar’s original film Elio grossed a meager $120 million worldwide on a $150 million budget. These collective failures underscore just how fragile Disney’s high-budget blockbuster strategy has become, making the billion-dollar run of Lilo & Stitch an essential lifeline for the studio in 2025.
With all that in mind, the path to sustainable success requires a more diversified and financially disciplined strategy. As the Chinese market continues to prove it can generate world-beating numbers, the old assumption that American blockbusters will automatically dominate the globe is no longer valid. By controlling budgets and investing in stories capable of forging genuine connections with international audiences, Hollywood can avoid all the multi-million-dollar failures it has been collecting in these past years.
Lilo & Stitch is currently playing in theaters. The English-language dub of Ne Zha 2 will be released in U.S. theaters on August 22nd, helping to expand its box office dominance.
Will you be watching Ne Zha 2 in theaters? Let us know in the comments!
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