Holiday pre-sale box office tops 500 million yuan fast

China's film market is off to a strong start in 2025, with box office pre-sales for the Spring Festival surpassing 525 million yuan (US$73.2 million) as of Saturday, fueling optimism about the performance of the world’s second-largest film market this year.

Movie posters are seen at a movie theater. File Photo

Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar for family reunions and also one of the most lucrative movie-going seasons in China.

Figures from film data platform Beacon showed that advanced ticket bookings for movies set for release during the holiday exceeded 500 million yuan within just five days of pre-sales beginning Jan. 19, signaling an upturn in China’s movie market.

After facing downturns in recent years, China’s film market is set to rebound in 2025, with a strong start during the holiday season, according to observers.

They predicted that the total box office revenue of the 2025 Spring Festival holiday season, running from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, one day longer than before, has the potential to surpass the 2024 record of 8 billion yuan and reach a new high.

Six domestic films are set to debut Jan. 29, the first day of the 2025 Chinese New Year. Among them is the highly anticipated blockbuster “The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero,” an adaptation of a Chinese martial arts classic, which has generated 223 million yuan and become the biggest box office draw in the pre-sales chart. “Ne Zha 2,” the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster “Ne Zha,” claimed the second spot, with advanced bookings totaling 89 million yuan. It is closely followed by the latest installment of the “Detective Chinatown” franchise and “Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force,” the second film in a mythology trilogy.

“My friend and I booked the tickets immediately upon hearing the news that ‘Creation of the Gods II: Demon Forces’ will be released,” said Song Jiaming, a film enthusiast from Beijing. “The first film in the series was a huge success in 2023, and we’re both excited for the upcoming release.”

Song told Xinhua that she used to be a fan of Western movie franchises like “Avatar” and “The Lord of the Rings.” However, her interest has gradually shifted as an increasing number of domestic films, with strong cultural resonance, have graced the big screen.

“Domestic films are playing an increasingly important role in the Chinese film market. They account for more than 80% of the box office with a trend of continuous growth,” according to Huang Wenyu, an industry analyst.

To boost the film market, the China Film Administration has launched a campaign to offer subsidies totaling 600 million yuan to the moviegoers until the end of February.

Besides, local governments in provincial-level regions including Guangdong, Hubei and Jiangsu will issue tens of millions of yuan in additional vouchers to encourage more people to go to the cinema.