China’s Lunar New Year Box Office Hits Record $1.3 Billion
Chinese New Year Box Office Sets All-Time Record With $1.3 Billion As ‘Ne Zha 2’ Looks To Make Global History
A person walks past movie posters at the Capital Cinema in Beijing, China February 21, 2024.
Bloomberg
By Adrian Wong and Sohee Kim
Feb 5, 2025 | 489 words | ★★☆☆☆
China posted a record $1.3 billion in box office receipts over the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, suggesting efforts to boost consumer spending are working.
Box office sales rose to 9.48 billion yuan, according to data from ticketing site Maoyan. That’s a 18% increase from last year’s New Year holiday box office take of 8.02 billion yuan. The Lunar New Year holiday ran from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 this year.
Sequels to fan favorite movies dominated. Ne Zha 2, an animated fantasy adventure film, took the top spot with sales of 4.84 billion yuan ($664 million). That was followed by Detective Chinatown 1900, the fourth installment of the comedy-mystery series, with 2.27 billion yuan. Fantasy blockbuster Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, came in third with 998 million yuan of ticket sales.
The holiday also shattered records for Imax China, which saw $53 million in sales, beating its previous record set in 2023 by 57% in dollar terms. Imax also posted its highest market share of 4% and saw its highest attendance with 5.5 million movie-goers, up 73% from 2021. China is home to over 800 Imax theaters, the most in any market globally.
“Demand for experiences is stronger than ever,” Daniel Manwaring, the chief executive officer of Imax China, said in an interview. “That area specifically is going to continue to grow. So when there’s a big event, a big movie, particularly younger audiences really are going to be very open to whatever is going to bring them the best possible experience, regardless of price.”
China has sought to boost consumer spending to help bolster its struggling economy. The country’s film authority introduced subsidies worth 600 million yuan at the end of last year. A number of local governments provided cinema vouchers, with banks and online booking platforms also offering discounted tickets between December and February.
It’s quite a turnaround from last year, which saw the country’s box office sales fall 23% to 42.5 billion yuan, the third lowest level in the past decade, excluding the pandemic. Despite the increased number of Hollywood films released in China last year, sales for US films more than halved compared to their peak due to moviegoers’ growing appetite for local productions.
Growing concerns over fresh trade tensions between the US and China may complicate US studios’ plans to release and promote big films. US titles scheduled for release worldwide this year include Paramount Global’s eighth Mission: Impossible and Walt Disney Co.’s Avatar and Zootopia sequels.
“We have seen really incredible openness in terms of policy in China, a lot of Hollywood films are getting in,” said IMAX’s Manwaring. “I don’t see that changing as the tone of the regulatory bureau is that they want to continue to grow the film industry. They want to allow as many films as possible into the country. And so we continue to see that being the likely scenario for 2025.”
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