Off the top of your head, name the current highest-grossing animated movie in history. Toy Story? Nope. The original Snow White? Not even close. The current crown is worn by Ne Zha 2, a Chinese film that released just this year and generated all that bread within its home country alone — $1.9 billion when converted to US dollars.

In fact, Ne Zha 2 is now not just the most profitable cartoon film in the world, but also the fifth highest-grossing film in history period, and the highest-rated animated film of the year on Rotten Tomatoes. It hasn’t even opened globally yet! The Bad Guys 2 is gonna have to be pretty amazing to top all that.

Now it’s coming to the US and other territories, thanks to a partnership between A24 and CMC Pictures. Ne Zha 2 will be released here, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on August 22, with an English dub starring Michelle Yeoh (other cast members have not been revealed, nor does anyone know who Yeoh is playing).

“I’m honored to be part of Ne Zha 2, a landmark in Chinese animation and a powerful reminder of how universal our stories can be. Sharing this with audiences in English is such a joy, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience the wonder, heart, spectacular artistry, and magic of this film on the big screen,” Yeoh told the press.

Could it take off internationally? Well, there’s one problem. This movie assumes you’ve seen Ne Zha 1. That film was also a Chinese hit, but not so much anywhere else. To put it this way, it’s streaming for free on Tubi.

Based on an old Chinese folktale, the Ne Zha of Ne Zha 1 is a young boy born with superpowers and a destiny to save China from a fearsome dragon. Ne Zha 2 picks up the story from there, as Ne Zha teams up with someone who was his rival in the first film but his friend now, to stop an ancient force from destroying humanity. We’re told despite their epic-sized plots, the Ne Zha films are not entirely serious, and feature a lot of juvenile gags.

In other words, Ne Zha 2 may not hold the universal appeal to generate another billion worldwide, especially if we’re just being dropped into an established world mid-story. But hey, Dragon Ball Z had the same problem, yet took off in the West anyway, so what do we know? Maybe your kids will be demanding polyester underpants with Ne Zha’s face on them in the near future. The English version opens August 22.

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