China's film market is off to a strong start this year with the country's total box office revenue already exceeding 6 billion yuan (around 835 million U.S. dollars) in 2025, with a host of new movie releases attracting film fans out during the country's ongoing Spring Festival holiday season.
As of Friday lunchtime, the total box office revenue for the 2025 Spring Festival season, including pre-sales, has surpassed 4 billion yuan, according to the Beacon Pro data platform.
The week-long Spring Festival holiday, which celebrates the Chinese New Year that fell on Wednesday this year, typically sees a wave of movie releases, attracting film fans out to cinemas across the country.
Leading the holiday box office is the animated sequel "Ne Zha 2" -- a follow up to the popular 2019 movie -- which has seen a revenue of 1.41 billion yuan so far. It is followed by the comedy-mystery "Detective Chinatown 1900", the fourth installment of the detective franchise, which is this time set in San Francisco and includes Hollywood actor John Cusack, with the film earning just over 1 billion yuan so far. The epic mythological blockbuster "Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force" ranks third among the new releases.
China's holiday box office revenue tops 4 bln yuan as film fans flock to see new releases
China's holiday box office revenue tops 4 bln yuan as film fans flock to see new releases
China's holiday box office revenue tops 4 bln yuan as film fans flock to see new releases
China's holiday box office revenue tops 4 bln yuan as film fans flock to see new releases
In 2025, China will fully implement the negative list for cross-border trade in services which was rolled out last year, and launch new measures to boost opening-up in various sectors, said He Yadong, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
He noted that developing service trade and boosting service consumption are crucial to stabilize foreign trade and drive domestic demand.
"We will fully implement the negative list for cross-border service trade, progressively open up various sectors to international trade, take the initiative to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and work with relevant departments to introduce a batch of new measures of opening up in sectors of telecommunications, education, culture, medical care, and finance," he said.
The ministry will also introduce policies to boost domestic consumption in sectors of household services, digital services, and sports, and increase the supply of high-quality services. Efforts will also focus on fostering new business models, innovating service consumption experiences, and improving the satisfaction of consumers, according to He.
China rolled out the national version of negative list for cross-border trade in services in March 2024.
The national-level list consists of 71 items. It compiles and summarizes market entry measures across various sectors, emphasizing that services and their providers in sectors not included on the list will be treated equally, whether at home or abroad, according to the ministry.
China to implement negative list for cross-border service trade