At a popular AMC theater in Arcadia, US state of California, this weekend, a capacity crowd wearing 3D glasses enjoyed a fast-paced, animated action comedy feature with wonderful animation and snappy rib-tickling dialogue.

Hollywood's latest blockbuster? No. It was Ne Zha, China's most successful animated feature ever.

According to Maoyan, a major Chinese film database and ticketing platform, the film broke many records by amassing over 4.656 billion yuan (around $650 million) through Saturday in China's box office, surpassing Chinese home-grown science fiction blockbuster Wandering Earth (4.654 billion yuan) to be the second-highest grossing film in China - behind only Chinese action film Wolf Warrior 2 (5.68 billion yuan) and well ahead of the top-grossing American blockbuster in China, Avengers: Endgame.