"Nezha 2" Dubbed Version Falls Short at North American Box Office
"K-pop Demon Hunters" Tops the Charts as Netflix's First Film to Reach No. 1
While the Netflix animation "K-pop Demon Hunters" continues its global box office success, the English-dubbed version of the Chinese animation "Nezha 2" has fallen short of expectations in its initial release in the United States. Analysts attribute this to a strategy of trying to "ride the wave" of K-pop Demon Hunters' popularity, which ultimately failed to deliver results.
According to Box Office Mojo, a U.S. box office tracking site, the dubbed version of "Nezha 2" opened in 2,228 theaters across North America on August 22, but its first-day ticket sales amounted to only $695,505 (approximately 964 million KRW). Over the weekend (August 23-24), revenues further declined to $486,854 (about 674.9 million KRW) and $365,140 (about 506.2 million KRW), respectively. Within just three days of its release, the average revenue per theater had plummeted to $163 (around 220,000 KRW).
In contrast, the theatrical release of "K-pop Demon Hunters" grossed $18 million (about 2.49 billion KRW) in just two days across 1,700 theaters in North America during the same period, making it the first Netflix film ever to top the box office chart.
"Nezha 2" is a fantasy animation featuring Nezha, a heroic deity from ancient Chinese mythology. The film set a box office record in China, attracting over 300 million viewers domestically. When it was released in the United States with subtitles in February, it grossed $20.85 million (about 2.89 billion KRW). However, the newly produced English-dubbed version, featuring actress Michelle Yeoh, has not lived up to expectations.
Especially around the time of its release, social media platforms such as TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Reddit were flooded with content combining characters from "K-pop Demon Hunters" and the protagonist of "Nezha 2," including composite images and videos, as well as clips using songs from K-pop Demon Hunters. Some users created videos with captions like "K-pop Demon Hunters' Joy and Nezha are best friends," or added K-pop Demon Hunters' music to scenes featuring Nezha. Despite these so-called "piggybacking" promotional efforts linking Nezha and K-pop Demon Hunters, they appear to have had little effect.
On overseas online communities such as Reddit, reactions to the release of the "Nezha 2" dubbed version included comments like, "The story isn't compelling," "There's nothing new since the subtitled version was already released," and "The timing is off. Right now, everyone wants to see K-pop Demon Hunters."
Meanwhile, "K-pop Demon Hunters" is a Netflix animated film about the K-pop girl group Huntrix, who protect the human world from evil spirits. Since its release on June 20, it has sparked a worldwide sensation and became the number one film in Netflix's history.
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