Photo:VCG

China's box office reached 1.805 billion yuan ($251.76 million),MKsport with 35.151 million moviegoers nationwide on Wednesday, the first day of the 2025 Spring Festival. Both figures set new daily records, surpassing the previous highs recorded on February 12, 2021, the first day of the 2021 Spring Festival, the People's Daily reported on Thursday, citing data from the China Film Administration.

China's box office revenue (including presales) for the ongoing 2025 Spring Festival film season exceeded 2.6 billion yuan as of 9:05 am on Thursday, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan. Ne Zha 2, Detective Chinatown 1900, and Creation of the Gods IIcurrently rank first, second, and third on the box office chart.

A Beijing-based white-collar worker surnamed Shao went to a cinema in his hometown Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Wednesday. "I went to watch Ne Zha 2with my family. The cinema was crowded and almost all the seats were sold out," Shao told the Global Times, noting that he booked the tickets a week prior in order to secure good spots.

Shao said moviegoers also boosted sales of snack stands and bobble tea store near the cinema, as he saw long queues at those places.

Six domestic films debuted on Wednesday. Ne Zha 2, the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster Ne Zha, claimed the first place on Wednesday box office ranking list with 486.93 million yuan, according to Maoyan.

Detective Chinatown 1900, the latest installment in the Detective Chinatownseries, ranked second with 465.19-million-yuan box office, and Creation of the Gods II, the second installment in director Wuershan's highly anticipated trilogy, was the third place on the list, recording 383.09 million yuan of box office.

Xiang Kai, a playwright and director, told the Global Times on Thursday that the simultaneous release of a group of high-quality domestically made films boosted audience enthusiasm for cinema-going, driving up the single-day box office on the first day of the Chinese New Year.

"This year's Spring Festival film season has witnessed more sequels reviving popular classic IPs, which not only attract audiences but also contribute to the sustained and healthy development of the film industry," Xiang stated.

In order to inject vitality to China's film industry before the lucrative film season during the 2025 Spring Festival holidays, China Film Administration announced on December 9, 2024, to launch a consumption promotion campaign offering subsidies totaling 600 million yuan to the public until the end of February 2025.

In addition, 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, Xinhua News Agency reported on January 25, 2025.

Chinese traditional culture has been receiving increasing attention since the second half of 2024, which explained the high popularity of domestically made films during the holidays, Xiang added.