With advanced special effects production technology, the success of China's big-budget film series has heated up the movie season during the Spring Festival holiday, getting off to a wonderful start for the film market in 2025, according to experts.
Chinese people are enjoying an eight-day Spring Festival holiday starting from the New Year's eve on Jan 28. As China's most significant traditional festival, the annual holiday also heralds a lucrative movie season as movie-going has become an increasingly prominent pastime for Chinese people during this period.
Six domestic films hit China's cinema screens on Wednesday, also the first day of the 2025 Chinese New Year, spanning a variety of genres including comedy, action, martial arts, science fiction and animation, catering to a wide spectrum of audiences.
The highly anticipated follow-up to the 2019 animated blockbuster "Nezha: Demon Child Conquers the Sea" currently grabs the top spot on the box office ranking list.
The lineup includes the action comedy "Detective Chinatown 1900," mythological epic "Creation of the Gods II: Demonic Confrontation" and martial art film "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero."
At one of the busiest shopping malls in Beijing - the Changying Paradise Walk, the Lumiere IMAX cinema has been packed with people. Moviegoers told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that watching films during the New Year holiday has become a new family tradition.
"During the Chinese New Year holiday, we always take my kid out to the cinema to watch movies and to feel the festive vibe. We come here every year," said one of the moviegoers.
"I come to the cinema to watch movies every year during the Chinese New Year holiday because the cinema has a stronger festive atmosphere. I watched 'Nezha' today, and I plan to watch 'Detective Chinatown 1900' or 'Creation of the Gods' with my family in the next few days," said another moviegoer.
Compared width last year, this year sees even bigger productions on Chinese silver screens, many of which are sequels to heavyweight IPs with a very large audience base.
"We have seen a significant increase in the number of the hardcore fans of IPs and series movies," said Han Zhihai, deputy manager of Lumiere IMAX Pavilions.
The Chinese mainland's Spring Festival box office revenue, including pre-sales, reached a new high of 4 billion yuan (about 556.7 million U.S. dollars) as of 11:55 local time on Friday, according to film data platform Dengta. Experts believe that the performance of the Chinese movie market during the Spring Festival holiday season will inject confidence into the film industry for 2025.
Sun Yanbin, an expert at the School of Management of Beijing Film Academy, watched five of the six New Year releases in just two days. She said these blockbusters showcase the growth and maturity of the Chinese film industry.
"What we saw this time were all big-production special effects movies. I was touched by the maturity of special effects which proves that China has reached a global first-class level in this area. This is why when I watched 'Nezha,' I was particularly moved. I was so surprised that the special effects are really beyond my imagination," said Sun.
Spring Festival movie season injects confidence into Chinese film market in 2025: expert
