Chinese movies during this year's Spring Festival shattered box office records, driven largely by the animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2," which has grossed more than 5 billion yuan ($686 million).

Moviegoers line up at a cinema displaying a "Ne Zha 2" poster in Fuyang, Anhui province, Feb. 3, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Six films debuted on Jan. 29, the first day of Chinese New Year, in what experts called the strongest lineup for the lucrative Spring Festival season. Most were sequels or new installments of successful franchises. Tsui Hark's martial arts epic "Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants" led presales at 350 million yuan.

The first day's box office results confirmed expectations. The films collected 1.8 billion yuan on opening day, the highest single-day gross ever. "Ne Zha 2" led with 488 million yuan, followed by "Detective Chinatown 1900" with 466 million yuan.

The fever escalated day by day. By season's end, the 2025 Spring Festival films had earned 9.51 billion yuan and drawn 187 million viewers, according to the Maoyan Pro tracking platform. "Ne Zha 2" accounted for 50.8% of earnings at 4.8 billion yuan. "Detective Chinatown 1900" earned 2.28 billion yuan, "Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force" 998 million yuan, "Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants" 592 million yuan, "Boonie Bears: Future Reborn" 509 million yuan and "Operation Hadal" 274 million yuan.

Promotional posters for the six films released during China's Spring Festival holiday. [Images provided to China.org.cn]

The holiday period, traditionally a peak movie-viewing season in China, was dominated by Enlight Media's "Ne Zha 2." After strong initial earnings, the film's popularity surged, boosted by an 8.5/10 rating on review site Douban. Its competitors received mixed reviews that hurt their earnings.

Maoyan Pro analyst Lai Li said the film's strong word-of-mouth led to four straight days of rising box office numbers, creating a "siphon effect" in the market.

"Ne Zha 2" has become a cultural phenomenon, drawing audiences across all age groups. The film passed the 5-billion-yuan mark early Feb. 5, just eight days after its release, according to Maoyan Pro. It is poised to surpass "The Battle at Lake Changjin" (5.78 billion yuan) as China's highest-grossing film.

Analysts project that the animated feature could reach 8.7 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in total earnings, which would break the single-market record held by "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens" at $937 million in North America.

Directed by Yang Yu, also known as Jiaozi, the sequel builds on its predecessor's success - the original "Ne Zha" earned 5 billion yuan in 2019. The visually enhanced film continues exploring stories from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) novel "Investiture of the Gods." Distributor CMC Pictures plans international releases, starting with Australia and New Zealand on Feb. 13 and North America on Feb. 14.

An international release poster for "Ne Zha 2." [Image courtesy of CMC Pictures]

"Detective Chinatown 1900," a mystery case-breaking comedy that looks back at the origins of San Francisco's Chinatown, emerged as the only film to withstand the impact of "Ne Zha 2." Lai noted the film helped the four-installment "Detective Chinatown" series become the first Chinese movie franchise to surpass 10 billion yuan in box office earnings, just hours before the "Ne Zha" series achieved the same milestone.

IMAX China reported record-breaking holiday earnings of $53 million from 5.5 million admissions, with five of the six festival releases showing in IMAX format. "Ne Zha 2" led with $36 million, setting an IMAX opening weekend record for animation and becoming the fourth-highest IMAX release in a local language. "Creation of The Gods II" and "Detective Chinatown 1900" earned an additional $1.2 million from IMAX screenings across 11 countries.

"Riding on a stronger-than-ever audience preference, IMAX has transformed moviegoing into a cultural phenomenon and a social talking point," said Daniel Manwaring, CEO of IMAX China. 

"Chinese New Year unleashed one of the most impressive surges in moviegoing we've seen in recent years, anywhere in the world — leaving a slew of broken IMAX records in its wake," said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. "This is a shot of adrenaline for moviegoing in China that comes at just the right time, with a tentpole heavy slate of local language and Hollywood films ahead for 2025."

The Spring Festival box office bonanza helped push total Chinese mainland film earnings past the 10-billion-yuan mark for 2025, reaching 11.6 billion yuan by Feb. 5. The strong performance has renewed optimism in China's film industry and reinforced audience enthusiasm.