Moviegoers wait in a movie theater in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, on October 7, 2024. Photo: VCG
China's film market has entered the home stretch, with a variety of films across genres such as romance, animation, suspense, and action vying for screens to ignite an end-of-year movie-going frenzy.
According to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, the box office for the last film period (from November 22 to December 31) before the New Year holiday has surpassed the 1.6 billion yuan ($219 million) mark as of Monday.
Chen Jin, a film data analyst, told the Global Times that looking back at the 2024 Chinese mainland film market, the first half of the year showed a steady performance, with the Spring Festival season achieving remarkable results and significant holiday periods performing well. However, the summer season saw a slump, with box-office revenues dropping by 44 percent compared to the previous year. Additionally, the National Day season was mediocre, followed by a continued downturn in box-office revenues during non-peak periods.
Therefore, the performance of this last film season before the New Year holiday will determine how the 2024 film market concludes. Attracting more audiences during the year-end sprint could also build strength for the recovery of the film market in 2025.
Chen stated that December 31 is often a peak in box-office revenue, with the total box office on December 31 in 2023 exceeding 730 million yuan, accounting for 18.6 percent of the December box office.
"We hope that the market heat of the last film season can continue, and the 2024 annual film market can have a good ending," said Chen.
Furthermore, the "New Year's Film Season, Welcome the Spring Festival - National Film Consumption Season for the Public" initiative launched by the China Film Administration, through various forms such as ticket discounts, lucky draws for movie viewing, and Spring Festival value packages, is bringing tangible benefits to the general film audience, further attracting people to enter the cinema and celebrate the holiday joyfully.
The upcoming 2025 New Year's Day film season promises to be even more exciting.
Although the film period is short, it seeks to attract audiences with exquisite films and several excellent works, such as drama film Big World starring Jackson Yee, crime suspense film Octopus With Broken Arms and romance film Honey Monday Phony, which are set to be released on December 31.
The Spring Festival season, the most lucrative film period of the year, will grandly open on the first day of the Chinese New Year. Currently, four films have been scheduled to be released that day.
This includes the sequel to Ne Zha, which features the beloved Chinese mythological figure and was loved by Chinese audiences for its unique style and profound themes; the second installment in the Creation of the Gods series, which will take audiences into the mythological legends of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (c.1600BC-256BC), presenting a mysterious and magnificent fantasy world with unique visuals and gripping stories; The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero, based on the classic martial arts novel by renowned Chinese writer Jin Yong and starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei; and Boonie Bears: Future Reborn, which will bring a "fantasy journey" with a light-hearted, humorous, and warm story for children and parents.
Lai Li, a data analyst from Maoyan, told the Global Times that many of these films are sequels to heavyweight IPs with a very large audience base.
For example, Ne Zha was released during the summer of 2019 and grossed over 5 billion yuan in the Chinese mainland; the first film of the Creation of the Gods series - Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, was released in summer 2023 and also achieved a box office of over 2.6 billion yuan.
According to Lai, considering that there may be several major films expected to be scheduled for the Spring Festival, which will be eight days long, overall, the scale and comprehensive competitiveness of the films scheduled for the period will be quite prominent.
"As the first major film season of the year, the success of the Spring Festival season will play a very important role in the market performance for the entire year. We look forward to the 2025 Spring Festival season living up to expectations and being an exciting opening to the movie market at the start of 2025," Lai said.
