Launching The Limits of Horror podcast

2025 Box Office Bloodbath(?): China's Ne Zha 2 crushes the compeition

Over the past decade, Chinese films have been creeping up the Worldwide Box Office charts, and finally in 2025, it is a Chinese film that is easily the highest-grossing film of the year. Ne Zha 2 is the only film in 2025 to break $2 billion with a grand total of $2,259,822,417 according to Box Office Mojo. It comfortably beat all competition, with only Zootopia 2 coming remotely close with $1,830,234,346. 

Ne Zha 2 dominates 2025 box office

With the Avatar franchise flagging on its third entry Fire and Ash (making approximately $1.5 billion less than the original film), and the IP-fuelled likes of Minecraft, Jurassic World: Rebirth, How to Train Your Dragon, Superman and Mission Impossible all failing to reach a billion, it makes Ne Zha 2's success all the more astonishing. 

Not only is it crushing all American competition, but it doesn't need American audiences to do so. Ne Zha 2, as is very common with the most popular Chinese films, made $2,209,602,296 in China alone, meaning only around a poxy $50 million came from audiences outside China. 

This is the culmination of a trend we can see beginning in 2015, when Chinese fantasy adventure Monster Hunt just scraped into the top 20 films of the year with $387,053,506 while the likes of The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Furious 7, Age of Ultron and Minions were all making comfotably over a billion dollars and sitting atop the charts. 

This was followed by The Mermaid in 2016 which was the 14th highest-grossing film of the year with $553,810,228, then Wolf Warrior 2 which broke into the top 10 of 2017 at number 7 with $870,325,439. Meanwhile, new entries from the Star Wars, Fast and Furious and Despicable Me franchises still dominated alongside another live action Disney remake (Beauty and the Beast) as the only films to break the billion dollar mark.

Arguably, the real shift happens in 2018 with three Chinese films being in the top 20 highest grossing films of the year. In 2019, it's four, including the original Ne Zha which didn't make it to a billion. Then, in the great global clusterfuck of the 2020 pandemic, there are a whopping eight Chinese films in the top 20. No films made even half a billion that year due to cinema closures and lockdowns and the general terrible state of the world. 

Following the anomaly of 2020, things went slightly back to normal, but it must be noted that in 2021, three of the top 10 films are Chinese, including the second and third highest grossers of the year behind the spectacularly successful Spider-man: No Way Home. Two of the top 20 are Chinese in 2022, four in 2023, three in 2024, and three again in 2025 including the all-conquering Ne Zha 2. 

All this to say, there has never been a Chinese film as the worldwide number one highest-grossing film of the year, until 2025 and Ne Zha 2. Not only has it beaten the slowly dying Hollywood franchises of Avatar, Jurassic World, Mission Impossible, Marvel and DC, but it beat the up and coming new franchises like Minecraft and potentially F1. 

Chinese audiences are clearly seeing less Hollywood movies, and becoming more accustomed to their own homegrown hits. Will Hollywood start remaking Chinese hits? Will there be more Hollywood/China co-productions like The Meg? Do Hollywood just need to stop flogging dead horses? One thing is for sure, Hollywood needs to watch its back. Chinese films are here to stay.

Wait till you see what Ralph Fiennes gets up to in The Bone Temple

Ralph Fiennes' performance in The Bone Temple is worth the price of admission alone. There is a scene in this film which is so delirious, OTT and frankly quite joyous despite the circumstances of some the characters that I was convinced I was seeing one of the best scenes of the year and it's only January. 

I watched a double bill of 28 Years Later and The Bone Temple and it was great to see them back to back as they do feel like two halves of a whole. I liked 28 Years Later a lot more on this second viewing. I find it to be quite an impressively odd, experimental sort of film. The score by Young Fathers feels brilliant in some places and strangely out of place in others - but it consistently feels very Danny Boyle though. The much discussed cinematography is also very distinct. It's got that cool new way of capturing the kills with the iPhones setup but also the focus/depth of field in some shots is very striking. I still wish it was scarier.  There is nothing like the end of 28 Days Later where Cillian has to cope with deranged soldiers and the Infected. The decision in 28YL to bring a terminally ill person to the mainland is bonkers, but it worked better on this watch, and I found it much more affecting this time. Alfie Williams as Spike really is excellent. Fair play to Aaron Taylor-Johnson for playing such a dick, but fair play to Alex Garland for not making him completely one dimensional - there is a good Dad in there probably, but not much of a good husband. Fiennes' Dr Kelson is still the standout, and even moreso in The Bone Temple.

What an absolute blast this film is. There is a scene where Jack O'Connell and Ralph Fiennes finally meet that is absolutely bonkers. It's all far less experimental than 28 Years Later, but with the Jimmys and developments in the Kelson/Samson relationship, this is still a pretty strange film. Low on scares, but someoretty damn nasty stuff all the same. Jack O'Connell and Fiennes are both absolutely exceptional. I wish the Jimmys had a bit more to do and had been utilised more scarily come he climax, but I still can't wait for the next one.

Ralph Fiennes deserves some kind of award for the Iron Maiden scene. Absolutely wicked.

Restarting blogging?

Hello world! I'm yearning to share my thoughts on all things movies! And maybe the odd bit of TV. But this blog has been dormant for some years now. Since stopping writing on this blog, I've become a father with two young kids. So restarting blogging might have to be about baby steps. I've just downloaded Blogger on my phone which might make this doable.

I still watch a lot of movies, but nowhere near as many as I used to. I rate and review almost everything I see on Letterboxd but that's as far as I get. I'm lost on social media... I really despise that Elon Musk so don't really use the platform formerly known as Twitter anymore, and that was always my favourite place to talk films. 

So I'm back here. Let's see how this goes. For now, I'll just say that my third academic book is coming out in February (hardback available to pre-order here) so I'm sure I'll be trying some shameless self-promotion. If anyone happens to read this post, I'd love to know, say hi! 

Horror Studies Now 2025

Loveless Review

The latest film from Leviathan director Andrey Zvyagintsev is released in UK cinemas on 9th February. You can find my review of Loveless from the London Film Festival at Starburst Magazine here.

Here's s snippet:

"Stuck in the loveless marriage of the title, a divorcing Russian couple must try to put aside their hatred of each other when their neglected son suddenly goes missing. As if just living with your ex isn't bad enough, Boris (Alexei Rozin) and Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) are forced to cooperate not just with the police and volunteers, but also with each other..."

 
Here's the trailer:



More reviews from London Film Festival 2017

Last Flag Flying Review

Richard Linklater's new film Last Flag Flying is in UK cinemas from 26th January 2018. I caught it at London Film Festival and reviewed it for Starburst Magazine. Here's a snippet of my review:

"Richard Linklater delivers his most mature film to date in Last Flag Flaying, starring a trio of acting heavyweights; Bryan Cranston, Steve Carrell and Laurence Fishburne. After offering some of the greatest films about boyhood, high school parties, college days and finding young love while travelling, Last Flag Flying sees the director on melancholic form with a film about war, death and growing old (not so) gracefully..."

Read more of my review of Last Flag Flying at Starburst Magazine here. 

Here's the trailer:



More from the London Film Festival 2017

 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Review

After winning Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Actress for Frances McDormand, Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell, and Best Screenplay for writer/director Martin McDonagh at the Golden Globes last week, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is released in the UK on Friday 12th January.

It is highly deserving of its plaudits, particularly for McDormand and Rockwell. I was lucky enough to see it at the London Film Festival in 2017 and my review of the film that all the cool kids are simply referring to as 'Three Billboards' is up at Starburst Magazine here. 

This is a film I can't wait to see again and I recommend you get down to a cinema to see it asap. 

Here's a snippet:

'Seven months after the rape and murder of her daughter, Mildred Hayes (McDormand) has had enough of the inertia of the police investigation. Seven months with no answers and no arrests. With the police having given up, Mildred decides to pay for a series of messages to be plastered high on three disused billboards outside her home. This most public of provocations, and the personal prodding of the town’s Chief Willougby begins a feud between Mildred and the police department, not helped by Mildred’s foul mouth and stubborn, but righteous refusal to accept that the cops could give up on catching her daughter’s killer...'

Read more at Starburst Magazine. 

More reviews from LFF 2017

My top 25 films of 2017

I have contributed my top 10 films of 2017 lists to Yahoo  Movies 20 best movies of 2017  and HeyUGuys Online Critics Top Ten but since then, the list has already changed as I've finally managed to see the wonderfully moving A Ghost Story and the mind-bending mother!. So they are both now making an appearance in my top 10.

Here's my top 25 of 2017, until further notice!

25. Detroit
24. Okja
23. Fences
22. IT
21. Call Me By Your Name
20. Atomic Blonde
19. Dunkirk
18. Baby Driver
17. God's Own Country
16. La La Land
15. John Wick Chapter 2
14. A Monster Calls
13. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
12. Free Fire
11. Patti Cake$
10. War for the Planet of the Apes
9. Patriots Day
8. Trespass Against Us
7. The Florida Project
6. Ingrid Goes West
5. Lion
4. A Ghost Story
3. mother!
2. Good Time
1. Get Out

But as always, there are a huge amount of films released in the UK that I have not managed to see. Among the many I've missed, the ones I'm most excited to catch are:

The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Toni Erdmann, Blade Runner 2049, Brawl in Cell Block 99, My Life as a Courgette, Loving Vincent, Paddington 2 and Thor Ragnorok.

What were your favourites of the year, and more importantly, what do I still need to get a move on and watch?

Blade of the Immortal Review

Blade of the Immortal is out now in UK cinemas and I was lucky enough to catch it earlier this year at the London Film Festival. It seems to be getting a pretty wide release so you should not have any problems finding the film at a cinema near you. My full review of Blade of the Immortal is at Starburst Magazine here. But for the time being, here's a taster of what you can expect...

Takashi Miike's 100th film Blade of the Immortal reveals a director in no danger of slowing down, and certainly not easing off on the bloodshed. Based on the manga series by Hiroaki Samura, this is even bigger, bloodier and better than Miike's recent 13 Assassins.
 

The body count in the opening five minutes is enough to make Tarantino blush as samurai Manji fails to save his little sister from being sliced to death at the hands of a gaggle of wrong'uns. That's not to say Manji doesn't make them all pay for their crimes, leaving the ground strewn with corpses not for the last time in the film. However, Manji is mortally wounded and saved by a witch with sacred bloodworms that render Manji immortal and unable to die even after decapitations....

Read the rest of my review here. And while you're here, how good is that poster above?

Here's the trailer:



More reviews from London Film Festival