Translations: Ne Zha 2's Heat Masks Broader Chill for Chinese Box Office

Translations: Ne Zha 2's Heat Masks Broader Chill for Chinese Box Office

The massive success of Ne Zha 2, boosted by patriotic group-buys and shielded by censors, buoyed a series of triumphal state media headlines earlier this year. Box office takings for the year to date were indeed up substantially from 2024, but this was a relatively low bar after a sharp slump from a spike in 2023. Even that year’s haul fell well short of the industry’s pre-pandemic peak in 2019. Moreover, an outright majority of this year’s earn…