On 30 January, Chinese toymaker POP MART announced its latest collaboration, this time with the animated film Ne Zha 2. After opening on 29 January, the first day of the Year of the Snake, Ne Zha 2 not only dominated the CNY box office but is also ranking number 2 in historical single-day box office results with 818 million RMB (113.79 million USD) and number 4 in all-time box office earnings with 5.3 billion RMB (728.88 million USD). It has become a true blockbuster and cinematic phenomenon.
The collaboration includes several figurines of the film’s characters, including multiple versions of the protagonist Nezha. They were released later the same day with 5 film tickets raffled for social media commenters. In fact, one day before the Ne Zha 2 team-up was announced, POP MART also released co-branded figures with Detective Chinatown 1900, which earned over 2 billion RMB (278.22 million USD) at the box office.
The film is a sequel to 2019’s Ne Zha and is a fantasy retelling of the story of Nezha from Chinese Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese folk religion. Nezha is also seen in Chinese classic novels such as Investiture of Gods, a major source for the film, and Journey to the West, where he fights first against and then alongside Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
Luckin Coffee released its own blockbuster collab with Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, which is also a sequel and an adaptation of Investiture of Gods, and features Nezha as a character. As Chinese films look to mythology and folk religions for IP inspiration, brands are following suit. With POP MART expanding two ways, one in more diverse IP collabs and one in its POPOP-branded jewellery that also explores “xuanxue” luck-wishing, POP MART is doubling down in providing “emotional value” for consumers.
