Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 has made new record by ranking 6th on the all-time global box office chart, with its total box office revenue surpassing that of Avengers: Infinity War, ticketing platforms showed on Sunday.
As of 18:46 on Sunday, the movie's 40th day in theaters, its global earnings, including pre-sales, had exceeded 2.05 billion U.S. dollars, according to data from the ticketing platform Maoyan.
This movie was released on January 29, during the 2025 Chinese New Year festival holiday.
It entered the list of top 10 highest-grossing films of all time globally on February 17, the 20th day after its release.
Ne Zha 2 had already become the first film to gross over 1 billion U.S. dollars in a single market and the first non-Hollywood film to enter the coveted billion-dollar club. It also dethroned Disney's 2024 picture Inside Out 2 to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time globally.
Ne Zha 2 is a sequel to the 2019 animated box office hit Ne Zha. Inspired by a Chinese mythological figure with the same name, the film has captivated audiences with its vivid storytelling and jaw-dropping visuals while featuring themes of defiance, fate, and self-confidence, which resonate universally.
Ne Zha 2 makes new box office record
The Urumqi–Yuli Expressway, which traverses the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, opened to traffic on Friday after more than five years of construction, significantly enhancing regional connectivity and enabling faster, more efficient movement of goods and services across the region.
The expressway is a core component of the G0711 national highway network, spanning 324.7 kilometers.
Stretching 2,500 kilometers, the Tianshan Mountains span central Xinjiang, separating Urumqi, the largest city in the north, from Korla, the largest city in the south. With the opening of the expressway, travel time between these two cities is reduced from seven hours to about three hours.
As a key component of the expressway and the world's longest expressway tunnel, the 22.13-km Tianshan Shengli Tunnel officially opened to traffic on the same day.
The tunnel's construction incorporated multiple cutting-edge technologies and innovations, including advanced survey and design methods for ultra-long tunnels and intelligent construction techniques.
"We have established a relatively systematic, comprehensive, and highly efficient management system for major engineering technological innovation across the entire expressway, and have accumulated extensive construction and management experience in delivering mega-projects under extreme environmental conditions," said Song Hailiang, chairman of the China Communications Construction Group.
The expressway connects Urumqi with the northern city belt and the southern urban clusters of Xinjiang, linking the Junggar Basin and the Tarim Basin. It enables rapid transportation between Urumqi, Kashgar, and Khorgos, strengthening Xinjiang’s role as a strategic hub for both the domestic market and international trade.
"With the expressway now operational, business opportunities are flowing in, and many inland companies are coming to sign agreements with us," said Yu Ruihong, chairwoman and general manager of the Xinjiang Ruiyuan Dairy.
"The Urumqi–Yuli Expressway significantly improves Xinjiang's connectivity with the eastern coastal regions and the New International Land–Sea Corridor, supporting the development of a modern, comprehensive, three-dimensional transportation network and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation," said Zhou Rongfeng, director general of the Highway Bureau of the Ministry of Transport.
Urumqi-Yuli Expressway boosts Xinjiang's trade connectivity, strengthens regional integration
