20 HUGE Hit Movies NOBODY Saw Coming
1. Ne Zha 2
Even though 2019's original Chinese animated fantasy film Ne Zha was a massive box office hit, grossing $742.7 million against a budget of just $22 million, its 2025 sequel enjoyed a financial uptick nobody could've anticipated.
By the end of its run, Ne Zha 2 grossed $2.26 billion, almost entirely in China alone - a brain-breaking result for a film that, evidently, most western moviegoers haven't even heard of.
The film's performance allowed it to break countless box office records, becoming the highest-grossing film in a single territory, the highest-grossing animated and non-English language film, the best-selling animated film ever in terms of pure ticket sales, and the highest-grossing film of 2025, beating out both Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash.
A third film is currently in the works, and it's safe to say that if it performs similarly or even better, people will be a whole lot less surprised this time.