(Yicai) Feb. 6 -- Animated film Ne Zha 2 has become China’s highest-grossing movie to date, according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan.

The blockbuster movie has so far made CNY5.78 billion (USD793 million), surpassing China’s previous box office champion, The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Ne Zha 2 is based on a traditional Chinese mythological story and was released over the Chinese New Year holiday. It took just eight days and five hours to make box office history in China. The first Ne Zha movie premiered in 2019.

Shares of Enlight Media [SHE: 300251], the film’s main investor, producer, and distributor, soared by their 20 percent daily trading limit on each of the past three days. The stock closed up 18 percent at CNY13.50 (51 US cents) in Shenzhen today, bringing the gain so far this year to 45 percent.

Enlight Media announced yesterday that as of Feb. 4, the Beijing-based company’s revenue from Ne Zha 2 was between CNY950 million and CNY1.01 billion (USD130 million and USD139 million).

The director, Yang Yu, has now helmed films with combined box office takings of more than CNY10 billion (USD1.37 billion).

Editor: Tom Litting