China's 2025 box office tops global charts, sets new record

China's 2025 total box office, including real-time presales, has surpassed 10 billion yuan (nearly $1.4 billion), ranking first globally – a landmark achievement for the film industry.

Meanwhile, the country's box office revenue for the 2025 Spring Festival holiday has reached 9 billion yuan as of noon on Tuesday, setting a new record for the same period in the country's film industry history, according to data from the China Film Administration.

The daily box office has exceeded 1 billion yuan for six consecutive days since January 29, when six films targeting the holiday season were released.

Spanning genres including mythology, comedy and action, the films on the top of the box office chart were all domestic productions, and the number of moviegoers also hit a new record.

Movie posters are on display in a cinema in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, January 30, 2025. /VCG

Chinese cultural IP under spotlight

Leading the pack this year was the animated fantasy "Ne Zha 2," the sequel to the 2019 hit "Ne Zha." "Ne Zha 2" has earned over 4.1 billion yuan since its screening, cracking the top 10 in the Chinese box office of all time.

According to the box office forecast of movie data platform Maoyan, the total box office of "Ne Zha 2" is expected to exceed 6.7 billion yuan, hitting the top of the box office list in Chinese cinema history.

Directed by Yang Yu, widely known as Jiaozi, the film features Ne Zha, a popular young hero in Chinese legends and literature such as the literary classic Journey to the West. Born with unique powers, Ne Zha finds himself as an outcast who is hated and feared. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, the boy must choose between good and evil.