Box Office China Ne Zha 2 Dominates Again

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BO X OFFICE : CHINA 'S " NE Z HA 2" DOMINA T ES A GAIN W orl d w ide b o x o ffice sl ee p y thi s w eek , e v e n a s " M ick e y 1 7 " s h o w s the futur e for w or k e r s is b leak . P lus , a s t a r is b orn ! MAR 17 , 2025 S ha re WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE FOR WEEK ENDING MARCH 16, 2025 (Photo credit Gage Skidmore; copyright 2025, all rights reserved) MICHAEL GIL TZ 3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 1/14Below you'll find a film's gross for the last seven days, followed by its total worldwide gross. If I bold a film's name, that means I've declared it a hit from bo x office grosses alone. Check out the grosses below, followed by my thoughts on the week , a list of the hit films of 2025 and finally brief notes for every film on the chart, in case you ’re wondering what that hit from India or France or South Korea is actually a bout. I begin with data from Comscore and then pull from every other source available. Send me an email if you'd like to subscribe or click the button below. Oth er recent stories: Music: Sean Mason Quartet at the Side Door Theater: Paul Mescal in “A Streetcar Named Desire” at BAM – Michael Giltz mgiltz@pipeline.com www.michaelgiltz.com www.popsurfing.com BOX OFFICE FOR THE LAST SEVEN DAYS 1. Ne Zha 2 –$61m this week/ $2.126b worldwide total 2. Mickey 17–$48m / $91m ww total 3. Captain America: Brave New World–$18m /$389m ww 4. Black Bag–$12m ww opening week debutT yp e y our e m ai l . . .S u b s c r ibe 3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 2/145. Novocaine– $11m ww opening week debut 6. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy –$10m / $121m ww 7. Paddington in Peru–$8m / $184m ww 8. The Monkey– $8m / $60m ww 9. A Complete Unknown–$6m / $127m ww 10. Dog Man– $6m / $126m ww 11. The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie–$6m ww debut 12. Mufasa: The Lion King– $5m / $714m ww 13. Detective Chinatown 1900– $5m / $503m ww 14. Conclave– $5m / $109m ww 15. Last Breath–$5m / $20m ww 16. Chhaava– $4m / $84m ww 17. Always Have, Always Will–$4m / $7m ww 18. John Wick: Chapter 4– $3m / $443m ww 19. Dragon– $3m / $17m ww 20. The Last Supper–$3m ww debut 21. Moana 2– $2m / $1,058b ww 22. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 –$2m /$490m ww 23. Companion– $2m / $37m ww 24. Hotline Beijing–$2m / $11m ww 25. In The Lost Lands–$2m / $3m ww 26. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants–$1m / $97m ww 27. One of Them Days– $1m / $50m ww 28. The Brutalist– $1m / $46m ww 29. Heart Eyes–$1m / $33m ww 30. Attack On Titan The Movie: The Last Attack– $1m / $15m ww 31. Becoming Led Zeppelin– $1m / $12m ww3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 3/1432. The Unbreakable Boy–$1m / $7m ww 33. National Theatre: Prima Facie– $1m / $5m ww 34. Night of the Zoopocalypse–$1m / $5m ww 35. Rule Breakers–$1m / $3m ww 36. Opus–$1m ww debut Bold: movies that have or likely will triple their reported budgets. T hat's my standard for a movie being a box office hit from theatrical alone. Ma ny films will be profitable for a studio even if they don't triple their reported budg et, thanks to home rentals, sales of BluRay, cable, streaming and the like. Still, the movies that are hits from theatrical alone are worth celebrating. ANALYSIS A star is born? Actor Glenn Powell enjoyed lots of buzz for his run o f hits starting with Top Gun: Maverick, followed by the romantic comedy Anyone But You, the Netflix film Hit Man (which he co-wrote and produced) and the action movie Twisters. He’s a star, says Hollywood, which is desperate for bankable leading m en. Well, here’s another. Jack Quaid has not one but two hit films in theaters right now. Companion is a film about “companion robots” that veers into some wild territory and the new action comedy Novocaine is a thriller…that also veers into some wacky territory. Quaid is key to both. Your quote just went up, Jack!* So it’s not all bad news, even though North America remains in a slumber , with grosses for the weekend the lowest of 2025…so far. Speaking of the Quaids, dad Dennis surely enjoyed the news that Universa l plans international distribution of his biopic Reagan. That seemed like questionable timing for a movie that only played in the US and a few small territories li ke Estonia and Poland last year. Then I realized it’s apparently just a deal for rig hts to rent and sell the flick for home consumption. By the way, the trades call the film a sleeper hit. Actually, it had a budget of $25mb and grossed $30m, so that’s what I’d call a flop.3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 4/14China’s Ne Zha 2 isn’t a flop, of course, but one of the biggest hit films of all time. It’s the sequel to an animated movie which proved wildly popular in China, but made almost no money anywhere else. Really, it was for lack of trying, s ince it wasn’t released in many other countries. We’ve seen films from India and South Korea and Japan and any other country you can name play successfully all over the world. Yes, Ne Zha 2 is based on Chinese mythology unfamiliar to anyone not Chinese. But so what? A misbehaving imp is a misbehaving imp! It’s not like some of China’s recent jingoistic flag waving films or frankly the adulatory biopic Reagan one assumes will be of little interest in any other country. Ne Zha 2 is a family friendly animated flick. So it’s welcome if overdue news that the film has been sold to 37 terri tories in Europe, with “previews” this week and openings in the UK and Ireland for s tarters on March 21. What took them so long? Finally, Warner Bros. is in disarray, as the studio once known f or being friendly to talent struggles to find its footing at the box office. They trie d to be pals with auteurs by taking on Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, but it’s looking like an expensive flop. At the same time, they keep orphaning films for tax purposes, like Batgirl and the animated film Coyote Vs. Acme. Then they abandoned The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, a well-reviewed, modestly budgeted cartoon they couldn’t be bothered t o release and just sold off. To rub salt in the wounds, the week it come s out we discover Warner Bros. has dumped all the classic Looney Tunes shorts from its streaming service HBO Max. Synergy much? Coming this week: Jonathan Majors on the comeback trail (too soon?) with his acclaimed indie Magazine Dreams; the 47th horror flick of the year so far, Locked starring Bill Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins and Disney’s live action remake of Snow White. These retreads basically print money for Disney, even though they’re invariably pointless exercises in recreating already classic films done right in animation. This one could be the exception. The original Snow White is a landmark film and gorgeously animated. But the characters Snow White and Prince Charming are bl andly drawn and performed. The seven dwarfs steal the show of course, but this one migh t actually benefit from being reimagined. Bambi? No. Snow White? Yes.3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 5/14*An actor’s “quote” is the salary they expect to get on a new project. T he bigger the hit they’re in, the more they ask for the next film. Strangely, even if a film is a flop, they don’t suddenly ask for less. NOTE: Last week Anora reported a post-Oscar bump of $6m worldwide, for a total of $54m and counting. This week, all the outlets pulled back a bit. “Di d we say $54m? Make that $52m.” Ok! The Italian smash There’s Still Tomorrow was at $52m last week, but course corrected to $50m this week. And I’m Still Here jumped to $35m last week, while this week everyone said, “Make that $34m.” In contrast, A Complete Unknown is boasting an extra $6m in its total worldwide grosses this week. T hese adjustments aren’t necessarily gamesmanship or nefarious; sometimes international box office takes a while to trickle in, so numbers get updated long after th e money was made. So when you see the box office numbers here bouncing around a bit, just keep in m ind: it ain’t me, babe. 2025 HIT FILMS Here's a list of all the hit films making money in 2025. Big Budget ($100mb+) Detective Chinatown 1900 (China) ($125mb est) Mid-sized budget ($21mb-$99mb) Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy ($50mb) Dog Man ($40mb) Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants ($30mb) Ne Zha 2 (China) ($80mb) Nosferatu ($50mb) Small Budget ($20mb or less) Attack On Titan The Movie: The Last Attack (no reported budget)3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 6/14Babygirl ($20mb) Becoming Led Zeppelin (>$2mb) The Brutalist ($10mb) Chhaava (Indian/Hindi) ($15mb) Companion ($10mb) Conclave ($20mb) Dragon (Indian/Tamil) ($4mb) I'm Still Here ($2mb) Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX-Beginning (pulled from epi of tv anime series) National Theatre: Prima Facie ($?mb) Novocaine ($18mb) One of Them Days ($14mb) Presence ($2mb) NOTES mb = a film's budget in millions of US dollars; ww = worldwide 1. Ne Zha 2– Reported $80mb. Chinese animated fantasy sequel to the 2019 smash which cost about $20m and grossed $743m. A spin-off film Jiang Ziya was hobbled by COVID but grossed $243m. Now we have the direct sequel Ne Zha 2, which cost $80m and finds our spunky heroine (based on a famed mythological character around for centuries) taking on sea monsters. The series is based on Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin from the 16th century. 2. Mickey 17–$120mb for director Bong Joon-ho's slapstick sci-fi comedy. Once again, a tip of the hat to actor Robert Pattinson for forging a very int eresting career.3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 7/143. Captain America: Brave New World–$180mb. 4. Black Bag–$50mb for the Steven Soderbergh thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender. 5. Novocaine–$18mb for this comic thriller means Jack Quaid is enjoying h is second hit film of 2025, after the comic sci-fi flick Companion. 6. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy– $50mb and straight to streaming in the world's biggest market because? Yes, it's only at $100m. But the film m ade $24m this week, so even if it drops by 50% next week and the week after and ends up at $120m, I'm calling it a hit. The more money it makes, the stupider t hey look for going straight to streaming in North America. 7. Paddington in Peru–$90mb? Sadly, three times is not the charm artistic ally or commercially for this once-perfect franchise. 8. The Monkey -- $10m reported budget means this adaptation of a Stephen King short story is a box office winner right out of the gate. Cheap horror films a re money in the bank... but 2025 has so many I have to assume audiences will become sick and tired of them any minute now. Not forever, not all of t hem, but surely the surfeit of slasher flicks will prove too much of a good thing. Jus t not yet. 9. A Complete Unknown–$60mb+ for this Bob Dylan biopic? That's a lot of money for a film about Dylan going electric at Newport. I mean, I wanted to see it but I'm a Dylan fanatic. But grossing $180m worldwide seems highly unlikely t o me, if not impossible. (Do other countries give a toss about this? Is Chalame t a big enough draw for this story? I’m not sure.) I'm glad it was made, but it wa s made for too much. Like Gladiator II, this will be seen as a commercial success, but it's not. UPDATE: Well, it keeps going and going and maybe Chalamet is a worldwide draw now, thanks to Wonka and the Dune films and he can bring in people to a serious drama like this. More power to him. It's now at $127m. If i t gets close to $150m (Japan will have to go crazy for it), I'll happily eat crow and cal l it a hit. It's already a good example of a movie that may not be technically profitable f rom box office alone but is clearly a financial success story and a valuable tit le in anyone's library. It will pull in plenty via rentals and sales and cable and streaming and the like. Now where's the sequel where Dylan goes born again Christian ? Or the spin- off telling the story of Joan Baez? Seriously, that one should be don e immediately.3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 8/1410. Dog Man– A reported $40mb. It's always good to gross your budget on opening week. Plus, the books are funny, the reviews are good, the audienc e response is great and it has the rest of the world to open in. So get ready for Dog Man 2. 11. The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie–$15mb for this orphaned Warner Bros. cartoon. Come on, Porky and Daffy! Make WB look foolish. 12. Mufasa: The Lion King– $200mb. 13. Detective Chinatown 1900– $125mb at least? This is the fourth in a wildly popular buddy comedy mystery series. Think oh, Rush Hour? 48 Hours? Each film cost more than the one before and grossed more. Since we're on film #4 and it's a period movie set in San Francisco, it's safe to assume this cost more t han #3, which cost $117m and grossed $686m worldwide. I mean, $150mb is probably more realistic, at least, but even at that level it's still a hit. Oh and clues in this one indicate the next film in the series will be set in London. So, Detective Chinatown 1920, here we come . 14. Conclave– a reported $20mb for this Vatican thriller means this is a hit. Thi s is exactly the sort of film that can play and play in theaters. 15. Last Breath–$24mb for this Nicolas Cage deep-sea diving drama. 16. Chhaava– $15mb Indian/Hindi language action historical epic. 17. Always Have, Always Will–Chinese comic drama in which a young man finds inspiration from a sick girl who is always tagging along. The poster echoes "Little Miss Sunshine." 18. John Wick: Chapter 4– $100mb for this 2023 hit just hitting China. It grossed $440m worldwide before opening in the Middle Kingdom in March of 2025. 19. Dragon– $4mb for this Indian/Tamil coming of age comedy drama. A young guy gets too clever with a crooked path to riches, endangering his job, his relationships and his family's reputation. Can he reform? Does he want to? 20. The Last Supper–No reported budget for this faith-based indie project about Jesus and the disciples breaking bread. It hits theaters a little early because in about two weeks the TV series The Chosen heads to theaters with The Chosen: Last Supper, not to mention the animated film The King of Kings (with the voices of Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill and Pierce Brosnan) on April 11, with Easter itself on April 25.3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 9/1421. Moana 2– $150mb. Is the budget lower since it was intended for tv, at first? O r higher because they had to rethink everything? Disney says it cost $150mb, j ust like the original. You can bet Dwayne Johnson gets more than his share of coconuts, but that won't matter with a hit like this. 22. Sonic The Hedgehog 3– $120mb. 23. Companion– A reported $10mb for this sci-fi horror comedy starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid. Great reviews means this one should have a long run at the box office. 24. Hotline Beijing–No reported budget or info on Chinese film. 25. In The Lost Lands–$55mb reported budget for this fantasy film starring Milla Jovovich and David Bautista based on a short story by George R.R. Martin. Mayb e Martin won't be so harsh on the tv series House of Dragons after seeing this. 26. Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants– $30mb per one Chinese source, called in English Oriental Daily . A wuxia martial arts period adventure film written and directed by the legendary Tsui Hark. It's based on part of the novel of the same name by Jin Yong. According to one report it's the highest grossin g wuxia film at the Chinese box office. That would mean it made more than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and every local box office hit. Mostly Hark would be competing with himself. His budgets bounce up and down, from the massive $200mb for both The Battle at Lake Changjin 1 and 2 (which he co-directed), and $60mb for some Detective Dee movies and down to $20mb or $30mb for various other flicks. One vague Chinese source says it cost $30mb, so I’m tentatively calling it a hit. If they make a sequel, then I’ll know it was a hit! 27. One of Them Days– $14mb. It's always good to gross your budget during a film's opening week. So yea for producer Issa Rae and this comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. (What an opening week for SZA! Her movie opened well and she made my list of The 250 Best Albums of the 21st Century...So Far.) 28. The Brutalist– $10mb; Adrien Brody in this architect-as-hero period drama. I'm not a fan of the film but I am delighted to see any passion project th is unlikely make money. Truly. 29. Heart Eyes–$18mb for rom/com slash horror film.3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 10/1430. Attack On Titan The Movie: The Last Attack –No reported budget for this feature film compilation of final episodes from the Japanese anime tv series. But essentially, releases like this are all gravy: free promo for the series a budget that was already spent to make the new season. So it’s a hit! 31. Becoming Led Zeppelin –Long-gestating doc broke into the Top 10 on opening weekend, playing on IMAX screens only. In its second weekend, the film has an excellent hold. This traditional doc (talking heads, conce rt footage) has already grossed $6m, which is serious money for this type of film. There is no reported budget, but given all that I know, it seems likely the total was $2mb o r less, so this is a winner. 32. The Unbreakable Boy–heartwarming family film about little boy who has a rare bone disease and autism, but also has a zest for life that wins over everyone. 33. National Theatre: Prima Facie– The acclaimed play starring Jodie Comer of Killing Eve makes $4.4m in China. Heck, the fact that it's shown in China kind of surprises me. 34. Night of the Zoopocalypse–Scrappy animated comedy about animals tak ing on zombies at the Zoo. 35. Rule Breakers–$8mb reported budget for the latest faith-based film from Angel Studios. This one is about an educator who dares to teach young women in Afghanistan. 36. Opus–A $10mb reported budget for this arty A-24 horror flick about a one-time pop star turned cult leader (John Malcovich) inviting a journalist (Ayo Edebiri) to witness his Jonestown-like final performance. T ha n k s for readi n g ! S u b s c ribe for free t o recei v e n e w post s a n d support m y w or k . THE CHART AND HOW IT IS COMPILED This column is a week by week tracking of box office around the world. I c ompile it by pulling from every possible source: ComScore, Box Office Mojo, Variety, HollywoodT yp e y our e m ai l . . .S u b s c r ibe3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 11/14Reporter, Deadline, charts for countries like China and India and Sout h Korea, individual stories in trade or general interest newspapers, Wikipedia and anyone else discussing box office. ComScore Weekly Global Box Office Chart The weekly charts contain the total gross for every movie in theaters around t he world during the last seven days. Most charts compare the three day grosses (Fri- Sun) of current releases (ignoring all the money they made from Monday to Thursday) to the four day grosses of new releases (since most new releases "preview" on Thursday). Naturally, sometimes movies open on a Wednesday in North America, whic h means they "preview" on Tuesday. So why not just add up all the money a movie made in the last seven days, whether it opened on a Tuesday or a Thursday or three week s earlier? Plus, I look at worldwide box office. Hits appear all over the world , some of them having a big impact in other territories and some flourishing only at home. B ut they all mint new stars and directors who often go on to help bigger movies in Hol lywood and elsewhere. Plus any studio tentpole film depends on the international mar ket, where they often gross most of their money. So focusing only on North America and ignoring the rest of the world is just as foolish as ignoring North American grosses and insisting you only want to know what a movie made in Oklahoma. How do we arrive at the total gross for a movie over the last seven days? We ta ke the total worldwide box office we have for a movie, subtract from it the previous w eek's total worldwide box office...and that's how much it made durin g the past seven days. Naturally, some territories and movies can fall through the cracks but w e are as up to date as we can be, given our dependence on other outlets for the basic inf o. Any movie grossing at least US $1 million will be on here, if we get i nfo on it. Then I give some thoughts on the box office overall and individual films. Th at's followed by notes where I give info on each movie, with a focus on films not from Hollywood. So Despicable Me 4 you know. But a small Korean comedy or French drama? That I'll identify for you as best I can. Which movies make the list for The Hit Films of 2025? My rule of th umb is that films should gross roughly three times as much as their reported budget to be cal led a hit3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 12/14from theatrical alone. Some people now say a movie need only make 2 1/2 ti mes as much as their budget, but I'm sticking with the traditional formula. O f course, we don't really know a movie's budget or the cost of advertising or the backroom deals. And remember, just because a movie isn't a hit from theatrical alone does n't mean they're losing money. Far from it. So, we can't dive deep into Hollywoo d accounting. But we can spot the really big hits that will change careers, launch franc hises and generally pay the bills. It's harder to get a reported budget on i nternational films so I tend to avoid calling them a hit unless I have info that convinces m e they're a winner. Also, I include movies from 2024 if they make the majority of their money in 2025. Finally, I identify the country for non-Hollywood movies to celebrate t he worldwide movie biz. I indicate the language Indian films were made in to celebrate that country's diverse industry, which is vibrant and includes more than th e Hindi- language Bollywood films Westerners knew best. – Michael Giltz mgiltz@pipeline.com www.michaelgiltz.com www.popsurfing.com --30-- S u b s c ribe t o M ichae l G iltz D ile tt a nt e , pr o g re ss iv e , pr o f e ss ion a l a m a te ur B y su b s c ribi n g , I ag ree to S u b st ack 's T e rms o f U s e , a n d ack nowl edge its In form a tion C oll ec tion N ot ice a n d P riv ac y P ol ic y . D is c us s ion ab out thi s postT yp e y our e m ai l . . .S u b s c r ibe C omm e nts R e st ack s3/24/25, 2:39 PM BOX OFFICE: CHINA'S "NE ZHA 2" DOMINATES AGAIN https://michaelgiltz390212.substack.com/p/chinas-ne-zha-2 -dominates-again 13/14

Box Office China Ne Zha 2 Dominates Again

📄 Box Office China Ne Zha 2 Dominates Again

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