Detail from a poster for Nobody (2025) by Shanghai Animation Film Studio
Welcome! This is a new Sunday edition of the Animation Obsessive newsletter. Our lineup today:
1) Why 2D movies are booming elsewhere.
2) Newsbits.
With that, let’s go!
1 – Stories that resonate
Folks who follow the animation news have already heard. Right now, hand-drawn features are taking over.
It’s happening in Japan, where Infinity Castle (of the Demon Slayer series) just became the third-biggest movie in the country’s history, climbing over Titanic. The thing’s earnings have passed $234 million worldwide, and they’re going up: the momentum has broken several records set by Mugen Train (2020), Japan’s top film.
China is experiencing something similar. A feature called Nobody, produced by the venerable Shanghai Animation Film Studio, is doing numbers that even Chinese CG blockbusters rarely manage. Revenues are over $203 million (1.45 billion yuan) and rising. Meanwhile, The Legend of Hei 2 has brought in $68 million or so, just in China.
For scale, consider two recent tentpoles from Hollywood, both CG. Elio stalled around $153 million worldwide. The Bad Guys 2 has done better — but, as of this writing, it’s under $180 million. And neither grossed significantly more in America than The Legend of Hei 2 did in China.
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