MoonFox Analysis — Ne Zha 2 Rages Across the Sea, Sparking the First Frenzy of the Year in the “Goods” Community

SHENZHEN, China, March 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — During the 2024 Chinese Spring Festival movie season, the animated film Ne Zha 2 swept the box office. According to publicly available reports, the film grossed RMB 4.839 billion during the holiday period. As of February 17, its total box office revenue had exceeded RMB 12 billion, ranking among the top 9 highest-grossing films worldwide and setting a new record for Chinese cinema. Behind this box office miracle, a consumption frenzy driven by the ACG “Goods” community is unfolding simultaneously – from the surge in demand for spin-off merchandise, to user-generated content going viral, and character-related discussions dominating trending topics.

I. From “Watching Films” to “Nurturing IPs”: The Movie Industry Enters an Era of Ecosystem-based Competition
According to data released by the China Film Administration, the total box office revenue in the Chinese film market has fluctuated over the past five years, diverging from the steady upward trend seen a decade ago. Although the most challenging three years are now over, the 2023 box office total had yet to return to the levels seen between 2017 and 2019. In 2024, box office revenue even saw a 22% decline, indicating that the domestic film consumption market is still in a prolonged “winter period”.

Total Box Office Revenue in China (Unit: RMB Hundred Million)

This year’s Spring Festival movie season, however, delivered an unexpectedly powerful boost to the market. According to data from BEACON, the 2025 Spring Festival movie season generated a total box office revenue of RMB 9.51 billion, an 18.6% increase compared to the 2024 season, setting a new all-time high. Among these, Ne Zha 2 alone contributed over 50% of the total revenue, establishing itself as the absolute frontrunner. Monitoring data from the MoonFox iApp shows a significant upward trend in active users on mainstream movie ticketing apps compared to 2024. During this year’s Spring Festival movie season, the Average Daily Active Users (DAU) of the Taopiaopiao app reached 1.968 million, reflecting a 15.2% increase from 2024. Moreover, the popularity of this year’s Spring Festival movie season has shown a sustained trend. In the week following the 2024 Spring Festival movie season, the DAU on mainstream ticketing apps halved. This year, however, the Taopiaopiao app saw only a 19% decline in DAU the week after the holiday, while Maoyan’s DAU decreased by just 11% in the same period.

Total Box Office Revenue in Spring Festival Movie Season in China (Unit: RMB Hundred Million)

DAU Performance of Ticketing Apps during the Spring Festival Movie Season (Unit: 10,000)

In terms of competition among films during the Spring Festival movie season, this year’s lineup stands out as the most IP-driven ever. Of the six films released, five were IP-based sequels or classic adaptations, including Ne Zha 2, Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, Detective Chinatown 1900, Boonie Bears: Future Reborn, and the martial arts IP Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants. This lineup signals a profound shift in the competitive logic of China’s film industry: box office revenue is no longer the only battleground, while building an “IP ecosystem” has become the new moat for leading players.

However, not all IPs guarantee equal returns. The success of Ne Zha 2 rests not only on the RMB 5 billion box office foundation established by its predecessor but also on its dual upgrades in “technology and culture”, which together form a strong ecosystem barrier. In addition to high-quality special effects and production value, Ne Zha 2 introduced a wide range of spin-off products, including pop toys, figurines, artbooks, and collectible cards. Furthermore, the film’s official team launched user-generated campaigns across multiple platforms, creating a full-cycle experience of “Watching Films – Consumption – Social Engagement”. In contrast, although Creation of the Gods II is a sequel, it faced criticism over its special effects and storyline, leading to a decline in audience reception and limited user-generated content engagement, reflecting the diminishing returns of over-relying on IP.

Derivative Product Partnerships for Ne Zha 2

This value differentiation reveals that building an IP ecosystem goes far beyond single-content output, it requires the simultaneous development of technology, derivative product creation, and user engagement across multiple dimensions. Examples include the derivative product matrix planned by Enlight Media for Ne Zha and Wanda Film’s effort to establish the “Detective Chinatown Universe” by Detective Chinatown movies series. Both aim to convert moviegoers into long-term IP consumers, forming a sustainable revenue model.

II. Catering to the Trend in “Goods” Community: The Derivative Products Market Anchors IP Fans in Broader Commercial Scenarios
The success of Ne Zha 2 exemplifies a movie-as-entry, ecosystem-as-extension model, marking China’s film industry’s official entry into the era of “Nurturing IPs”. In this era, derivative products have carried a significant portion of the commercial value realization, not only reshaping the profit model of the film industry but also, under the catalysis of the “Goods Economy”, elevating the status of China’s IP derivative product market from a “marginal supplement” to a “core battlefield”. In the traditional watching films model, derivative products were merely supplementary to box office revenue, catering only to a niche group of fans. Now, their role has evolved into an “amplifier of the IP ecosystem”.

As a leading player in the “Goods” community, Pop Mart launched the “Born Bonded” blind box series in collaboration with Ne Zha 2 on January 30. Since its launch, driven by the movie’s release, growing word-of-mouth, and expanding social influence, the number of active users on Pop Mart’s mini-program has surged. According to data monitoring from MoonFox iApp, the DAU of Pop Mart’s “Blind Box Machine” applet peaked at 770,000 on February 7, marking a more than fivefold YoY increase. Currently, the shipping schedule for this collaborative blind box series has been pushed back to June 30.

Pop Mart Applet DAU and Growth Trends

The popularity of the Goods Economy essentially reflects a shift in consumer demand from functionality to emotional resonance, transforming shared sentiments into tangible, interactive, and widely communicable products. When consumers purchase a Ne Zha figurine, they are not merely buying a plastic or resin product, while buying into the value of “I am the master of my fate”, seeking a sense of belonging to a community, and even finding emotional comfort in the face of real-life pressures.

For Pop Mart, the enormous success brought by Ne Zha 2 further validates the company’s deep commitment to IP collaborations. In this sector, Pop Mart is steadily building a vast emotional consumption landscape through broad yet refined IP operations.

III. Conclusion from “Watching Films” to “Nurturing IPs” — A Shift from UV Monetization to Emotional Engagement
Some industry perspectives suggest that in a mature film market, revenue from derivative products should surpass box office earnings. For example, in the United States and Japan, the revenue ratio of movie derivatives to box office income can reach 3:7. In the current Chinese film market, while the scale of Ne Zha 2’s derivative product market still falls short of its box office revenue, it may serve as a model for collaboration between the film and “Goods” community industries. Moreover, the “Goods” community frenzy sparked by Ne Zha 2 highlights a crucial insight: in an era of scarce attention, only by transforming an IP into a sustainable emotional connection can businesses achieve exponential commercial growth. The success of Ne Zha 2 and its derivative products not only marks the rise of homegrown IP but also signals the evolution of China’s cultural industry from a focus on UV accumulation and UV competition to a more sophisticated strategy of cultivating genuine emotional engagement.

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About Aurora Mobile

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