Chinese box office hit "Ne Zha 2" was screened on Friday in a limited theatrical release in North America.

The highly-anticipated film is being released by CMC Pictures in Mandarin with English subtitles in about 750 selected theaters in North American cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Toronto, Vancouver and a few other cities with a large overseas Chinese population.

The animated epic fantasy film's North American pre-sale box office alone has exceeded the opening weekend box office record in North America for any Chinese-language film in the past 20 years.

The animated film has captivated Chinese audiences with its exquisite animation production, grand visual imagination and rich cultural expression. After opening on Jan. 29, the Chinese New Year, the film swiftly smashed box office records, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in China.

The blockbuster became the first Chinese film to gross 10 billion yuan (about 1.39 billion U.S. dollars) when its total global earnings, including presales, reached the mark on Thursday evening, according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan. It's also the first non-Hollywood film to cross the billion-USD benchmark.

"Ne Zha 2" is a sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster "Ne Zha." Both films were inspired by China's 16th-century classic novel "The Investiture of the Gods."

The film has already sparked a wave of enthusiasm in North America with a high attendance rate in some theaters, especially theaters in cities with big Chinese communities.

A lady, who gave her surname as Lai, told Xinhua that she was deeply moved by the film, crying and laughing while watching it.

"Compared with the century-old Hollywood, Chinese films started late but have made rapid progress in recent years," she said.

"Ne Zha 2" boasts a positive 8.3 out of 10 rating from over 2,800 users on the international review platform IMDb to date, with 60 percent of them giving the film a perfect 10.

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