Merchandise, small players swept up in whirlwind success of Ne Zha 2

Go local, win global

As audiences wept during the movie's heart-touching scenes, investors rejoiced in its financial fortunes.

Ne Zha 2 boasted five production companies — three affiliated with Enlight Media and two linked to Jiaozi, information from data analysis company Beacon Pro showed.

With a reported budget of 500 million yuan, which included production and marketing, industry insiders estimated that Enlight could reap over 2 billion yuan from a 10 billion yuan box office haul. After Spring Festival, Enlight's shares surged, adding a remarkable 72 billion yuan to achieve a 100 billion-yuan market value.

Professor Chen Shaofeng from Peking University, also a former independent director at Enlight Media, hailed the film as a watershed moment in animation commercialization. "China's director-centric model diverges from Hollywood's producer-driven paradigm, yet recent market shifts offer enhanced protection for investor returns," Chen said.

In the end credits, Ne Zha 2 recognized 135 companies in various categories such as co-production, production teams, art services, digital assets, visual production, and animation production. Of these enterprises, 115 were classified as small and micro-sized ones.

"The nature of outsourced work in this specific visual effect field dictates the absence of large enterprises," Chen said.

"As entities that do not participate in film investment but solely engage in production, outsourced parties have minimal connection to the post-film profits. It is truly the combined efforts — which come from the enthusiasm for the animation industry of these participating companies — that have propelled the film forward, paving the way for a more mature development of Chinese animation," he said.

Sales of products associated with Ne Zha 2 have shone as brightly as the film itself.

"Almost all the goods that were brought in were sold out well before the second day of the Chinese New Year," said Wang of Mianyang Zhonghuan. "The daily sales revenue of Ne Zha 2 products accounted for approximately 20 to 30 percent of the cinema's non-ticket revenue."

He added that there had been some product supply shortages, mainly due to inadequate forecasts of demand for the products, a situation that was compounded by logistical issues during Spring Festival.

Sales of authorized Ne Zha series merchandise on Taobao's platform have surpassed 50 million yuan, according to data from the online retailer. The range of products includes blind boxes, trading cards, plush toys, resin dolls, film cards, fridge magnets, badges, stickers and dozens of other items, with sales continuing to grow.

On Jan 30, Pop Mart released the Ne Zha-themed series of blind box figurines on its Tmall official store. With over 20,000 people searching online daily, the sales quickly exceeded tens of millions of yuan within eight days of the launch, becoming a hard-to-find item.

Qin Lang, who is in charge of trendy toys at Tmall, said the blind boxes are restocked irregularly, and daily inquiries from fans are still high.

At the Pop Mart store in Sanlitun, Beijing, the display case for the Ne Zha series of blind box figurines had a "sold out" sign recently. This series of blind box figurines includes eight regular designs and one hidden design, with a single item priced at 69 yuan and the full set at 552 yuan. Staff members said that only display items were available in the store, and restocking times are uncertain.

Official stores of the card game company Card. Fun have introduced new trading cards for the Ne Zha series. In just one week, over 700,000 cards in the series were sold, surpassing 1 million yuan in total sales. The limited-edition "Jiaozi director autographed" cards have become a favorite with collectors.

"The growth in searches and transactions for Ne Zha 2-related products is explosive, with over 100,000 more searches per day compared with the previous day. This kind of surge in sales for intellectual property merchandise is very rare in recent years. As the hottest IP of the year, we expect that this 'Ne Zha whirlwind' will continue for at least another month," said Qin from Tmall.