According to data reported by the Maoyan Pro app, the 2025 (Year of the Snake) box office reached US$7.4 billion (¥51.83 billion). This remains below the pre-Covid peak of 2019, when revenues hit a record US$9.08 billion, and also below 2023, which brought in US$7.65 billion. Even so, it represents a 22 percent increase over 2024, when the box office totalled US$5.81 billion.
A total of 474 films were released in Chinese cinemas in 2025, made up of 368 domestic productions and 106 imported titles. This was lower than both 2023, when 510 films were released, and 2024, which saw 501 titles. By comparison, 555 films were released in 2019, including 426 domestic productions and co-productions, or 76.76% of the total, and 129 imported films, or 23.24%. In 2025, domestic productions generated 79.7% of total box-office revenue. Meanwhile, the number of cinema screens nationwide continues to grow, reaching 93,187.
According to the Maoyan Research Institute, total cinema admissions in 2025 reached 1.24 billion, compared with 1.01 billion in 2024, though still below the 1.3 billion admissions recorded in 2023. Data from the Maoyan Pro app shows that the Top 10 films of 2025 covered a broad range of genres, representing many of the categories most favoured by Chinese audiences.
Animation was the most significant driver of the year’s box-office success, led by Ne Zha 2, Zootopia 2 from Disney, Nobody, and Boonie Bears: Future Reborn. Animation has been a major force in China for years, but 2025 marked the highest number of animated films ever to enter the annual Top 10.
Zootopia 2 became the highest-grossing imported film of all time in China, achieving historic success thanks to its theme of pursuing one’s dreams in a big city, something that resonated strongly with audiences shaped by urbanisation. It also benefited from the enduring popularity of the original film, the existence of the world’s only Zootopia-themed area at Shanghai Disneyland, and a highly targeted marketing campaign. The Year of the Snake theme in 2025, together with the introduction of a new snake character, further boosted its appeal. The film’s broad family audience also played a crucial role, with families accounting for 80 percent of viewers.
The year’s most successful animated titles, Ne Zha 2, written and directed by Jiaozi, and Boonie Bears: Future Reborn by Lin Yongchang and Qu Caijia, were both based on established intellectual properties, ensuring strong audience interest before release. Ne Zha 2, a sequel, continues the adventures of the rebellious Ne Zha, who teams up with his friend Ao Bing to fight corrupt celestial forces and save his hometown. The film explores themes of destiny, friendship, and sacrifice.
Boonie Bears: Future Reborn is a science fiction adventure in which the three protagonists, Vick, Briar, and Bramble, are transported 100 years into a bleak future. There they must survive in an apocalyptic world dominated by giant lethal plants, an environmental catastrophe caused by a mistake Vick made a century earlier.
Nobody (Chinese title, “The Little Monster of Mount Langlang”), written and directed by Yu Shui and animated by Shanghai Animation Film Studio, was the highest-grossing 2D animated film produced in China. Based on an episode of the anthology series Yao-Chinese Folktales, it offers an alternative perspective on the literary classic Journey to the West. The film follows four marginalised low-ranking demons, a pig, a toad, a weasel, and a gorilla, who embark on a quest that is both comic and moving in search of meaning and purpose. It is an animated adventure that explores themes related to work-related struggles, personal growth, and individual values.
Massive investment in animation technology and a strong pool of stories have strengthened Chinese production capabilities, enabling domestic animation to compete with Hollywood. Today’s cinema audiences in China are dominated by viewers born in the 1990s and 2000s, generations that grew up with animated films.
The comedy genre, which defined much of the Chinese box office in 2024, returned in 2025 with the fourth and final instalment of the hugely successful Detective Chinatown series. Detective Chinatown 1900, directed by Chen Sicheng and Dai Mo and starring Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran, with Chow Yun-fat in a supporting role, marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise, which began in 2015. Set in San Francisco in 1900, the film follows Qin Fu and Ah Gui as they investigate the murder of a woman in Chinatown. According to Phil Hoad of The Guardian, the film stands out for its brisk pacing and dynamic direction, its engaging cultural message, and effective humour that explores anti-Chinese xenophobia without descending into excessive patriotism.
The year 2025 also marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the war against Japan during the Second World War, prompting the release of several patriotic historical films. These titles drew considerable attention, as well as strong criticism from audiences. Several films pf this type were released, but three films in particular, Dead to Rights, Evil Unbound, and Dongji Rescue, sparked debate among viewers.
Dead to Rights (Chinese title, “Nanjing Photo Studio”), directed by Shen Ao and released on 25 July 2025, is a historical drama set during the Nanjing Massacre. It follows a postman, played by Liu Haoran, who poses as a photography expert in order to save his life and ends up exposing Japanese war crimes by developing photographs taken by the official photographer of the Imperial Army in a Nanjing studio.
Evil Unbound (Chinese title, “731”), directed by Zhao Linshan, centres on the atrocities and horrific human experimentation carried out by Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army in China. Released in September 2025, the film stars Jiang Wu, Wang Zhiwen, and Li Naiwen.
Dongji Rescue (Chinese title, “Dongji Island”), directed by Guan Hu and Fei Zhenxiang and starring Zhu Yilong, Wu Lei, and Ni Ni, is an historical war action film based on the real Lisbon Maru incident. It tells the story of Chinese fishermen who, in 1942, risked their lives to save more than 300 British prisoners of war after a Japanese transport ship sank off the coast of Zhoushan in Zhejiang province. The film was released in China on 8 August 2025. Its subject recalls the documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, directed by Fang Li and screened at FEFF27.
Although all three films performed well at the box office, Chinese audiences were quick to criticise the ways in which the directors handled, framed, and promoted their stories. Japanese aggression between 1937 and 1945 remains one of the most painful and enduring historical subjects in Chinese cinema, and one that continues to provoke strong public feeling.
Among the audience favourites of 2025 was also the action thriller The Shadow’s Edge, a Sino-Hong Kong co-production written and directed by Larry Yang. Loosely inspired by the Hong Kong thriller Eye in the Sky (2007) by Yau Nai-hoi, the film stars Jackie Chan and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Chan plays a retired surveillance expert who returns to investigate a series of robberies carried out by a long-time fugitive, played by Tony Leung Ka-fai, assisted by a rookie police officer portrayed by Zhang Zifeng. The film’s strong performance has already prompted discussion of a sequel.
Also noteworthy was Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, the second instalment of the trilogy directed by Wuershan, following the major box-office success of Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms in 2023. Adapted from the 16th-century fantasy novel Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin, the second film depicts the defence of the city of Xiqi against a siege by the Shang army. Completing the Top 10 was James Cameron’s science fiction film Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Hovering just below the Top 10 were several other notable titles. One was the historical comedy The Lychee Road, written, directed, and starring Da Peng. Based on Ma Boyong’s 2021 novel Lychees of Chang’an, itself inspired by the legendary passion of Yang Guifei for lychees, the film follows a humble official, Li Shande, who is tasked with transporting fresh lychees from Lingnan to Chang’an, a distance of roughly 5,000 li, or 2,500 kilometres, in time for Yang Guifei’s birthday. The film blends historical legend with satire on modern working life and personal struggle, something many viewers readily connected with.
Another was The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, screened at FEFF27, a film adaptation of the classic martial arts novel by Tsui Hark. The film functions as a nostalgic tribute to Hong Kong martial arts cinema of the 1980s and 1990s, and it became the highest-grossing wuxia film in the history of Chinese cinema.
Also significant was The Volunteers: Peace at Last, directed by Chen Kaige and released during the National Day holidays on 1 October. It is the third instalment in Chen’s trilogy about China’s involvement in the Korean War. The first film, The Volunteers: To the War, was released in the same period in 2023, and the second, The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death, followed in 2024.
The start of 2026 brought Pegasus 3, written and directed by Han Han, which continued the sports-comedy franchise that began with Pegasus (2019) and Pegasus 2 (2024). The third film follows Zhang Chi, played by Shen Teng, and his friends as they prepare to form a national team to represent China in competition. When Zhang Chi discovers that the apparently straightforward race route conceals a deeper conspiracy, he and his companions choose the harder path in order to protect the integrity of racing and their own dignity.
Other early 2026 highlights included the spy thriller Scare Out by Zhang Yimou, centred on a leak of sensitive information that forces a national security team to investigate itself. The wuxia action film Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert by Yuen Woo-ping, adapted from the comic Biao Ren (Blades of the Guardians) and starring Wu Jing, Nicholas Tse, and Jet Li showcases high-quality martial arts, brutal and fast-paced, with extraordinary fight choreography. There was also Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector, directed by Lin Huida, the latest entry in the long-running Boonie Bears franchise.
One of the films that stood out in the science fiction genre, confirming increasing investment in CGI and sci-fi, was Han Yan’s Per Aspera ad Astra. The story revolves around a futuristic company that allows people to live out their desires in a dreamlike reality, only for these dreams to spiral into crisis.
The real novelty of 2026, however, is the integration of Artificial Intelligence into production processes in order to make filmmaking faster and more cost-effective, especially in animation and 3D production. Chinese cinema in 2026 is clearly looking towards the future. What remains to be seen is whether the decline in the number of features released in cinemas will continue, whether the broader economy will restore confidence and stability, and whether Artificial Intelligence will challenge creativity, originality, and the nature of film production in Chinese cinema.
Data provided by Artisan Gateway, ScreenDaily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Variety Asia, Maoyan Research Institute, app Maoyan pro, Sixth Tone.
Maria A. Ruggieri