A24 has made the trailer for the English-language adaptation of Ne Zha 2, the animated Chinese blockbuster that already conquered the worldwide box office. Originally released in Mandarin, the film made an estimated $2.2 billion in China earlier this year, topping the highest-grossing movie in 2025 to date.
While the initial language release of Ne Zha 2 previously reached select U.S. theaters, earning as much as $20 million, A24 is going wide with a dubbed version featuring all-star voice talent including Oscar-winning Michelle Yeoh.
What’s In The English-Dubbed Trailer?
The trailer starts off with a town on a mountain slope which appears to be very much like ancient China. We meet Ne Zha, a child who floats in mid-air with supernatural ability. A voiceover is soon informing the audience that Ne Zha is not an ordinary kid; he is an immortal god and one who has a penchant for breaking rules.
As the film goes on, audiences see glimpses of Ne Zha engaging with mythological dragons, shape-shifting beasts, and gods of great power, but also balancing the delicate human moments of childhood. In a moment of particularly affecting realism, Ne Zha is reminded to embrace his mother as she departs, a moment of earthy human emotion in a movie filled with fantasy spectacle.
Michelle Yeoh does the voice of Ne Zha’s mom, and A24’s trailer makes a special point of mentioning her Oscar-winning status. The other English-language voice actors are Michael Yurchak, Crystal Lee, and Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), which again bolsters A24’s attempt to mix up overseas stories with standard Hollywood leads.
Sequels and Cultures Bridged
What makes Ne Zha 2’s English-language outing so fascinating is that it is a sequel. The first Ne Zha film to come out in 2019 and register some modest box office from the United States but never approached the cultural phenomenon levels that Ne Zha 2 has reached in China. That leaves most U.S. viewers who might be coming into the story cold, having not seen the original.
But A24 appears to be betting on broad appeal. The teaser establishes a simple yet engaging narrative: a boy of magic struggling with god-like powers but still tethered to mortal emotions, specifically the parent-child love. These are popular themes that are by definition universal and could help to straddle the cultural and narrative gap for Western audiences unacquainted with the franchise’s Japanese origins.
A24’s Global Ambitions
The trailer is leaning into the movie’s excellence overseas, using pull quotes like “a spectacular epic adventure” and terming it “the global phenomenon.” All of that on top of the August 22 release date suggests A24 is launching a full-court press to translate Ne Zha 2’s Eastern success into Western momentum.
Whether or not this strategy will pay off is to be determined. While anime and foreign animation have both had strong niches in America, few if any non-English language animated features have penetrated the mainstream. But with an internationally recognized star like Yeoh on board and engaging visuals that will hold their own with Pixar or Studio Ghibli, Ne Zha 2 can be an actual sleeper hit.
In essence, the trailer is promoting a vibrant, high-stakes, emotionally grounded narrative about a powerful child who must find balance between the magical and the mundane. If A24’s gamble pays off, Ne Zha 2 could be the tip of the iceberg in a wave of international animated features opening strong with American crowds, one dubbed dragon flight at a time.
