China 2025 First Half Box Office & Upcoming Films
Streamlined is back after a summer break during which you may have noticed that the Streamlined Global website had a makeover. The site is designed to help indie producers, sales agents, buyers and programmers with their work in Asia, Middle East and Africa and I’d love to hear your thoughts on which elements of the site are useful or what else you would like to see. More upgrades will be happening over the summer.
Two sections of the site have recently been updated – Funding News and Project Markets. This link takes you through to all the recent funding announcements in Asia and the Middle East, including Busan’s Asian Cinema Fund, Doha Film Institute and the Singapore International Film Festival film fund. This link takes you to all the recent project market line-ups across the region, including Locarno Open Doors, Venice Gap Financing Market, Shanghai’s SIFF Project and Amman Film Industry Days in Jordan.
Streamlined also carries some rolling lists you may find useful – Southeast Asia Projects in the Pipeline and China’s release schedule for imports and co-productions. A new Festival Dates list has recently been added with details of film festivals, markets and TV events taking place this year across Asia, Middle East and Africa (with the biggest European and North American events also listed).
Streamlined Guides will be back next week with the long-awaited report on Asian Co-Production Funds, which will be published in two parts. Huge apologies for the delay – it has been an epic piece of research that has given me a whole new appreciation of the complicated life of an independent producer, some of whom could have made an entire film in the time it’s taken me to research this report.
For this first newsletter following the summer break, Streamlined is looking at half-year box office results for mainland China, while upcoming editions will look at how box office is faring so far this year in South Korea, Japan, India and Southeast Asia.
Imports Stage A Comeback In Muted Post-Ne Zha 2 Period
China’s box office recovery since the pandemic has been uneven to say the least – after plummeting to $2.8bn (RMB20bn) in 2020, it jumped up to $6.6bn (RMB47bn) in 2021, was down again to $4bn (RMB30bn) during the Omicron variant in 2022, up again to $7.6bn (RMB55bn) in 2023, then down again to $5.9bn (RMB42.5bn) in 2024. It has yet to regain the dizzy heights of 2019 when it reached a record $8.95bn (RMB64.3bn).
This year seems to be continuing the zigzag pattern with box office for the first half of the year up by 22.9% to $4.1bn (RMB29.2bn), compared to the first half of 2024, according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway. Of course, most of that growth was driven by just one title: animation behemoth Ne Zha 2, released in February over Lunar New Year.
“Ne Zha 2 contributed 52.8% of the first half tally, with $2.1bn (RMB15.4bn), but post Chinese New Year, no films either local or import have grossed more than RMB500m,” says Artisan Gateway president Rance Pow.
However, Pow is optimistic about Hollywood and other imports: “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, a major Hollywood franchise sequel, topped the second quarter with $63.2m (RMB455.2m), and over subsequent weeks imports (of all origins) have represented a majority of the Top Ten titles.”
Artisan Gateway figures also show that Chinese-language films increased box office by 37.4% year-on-year to $3.7bn (RMB26.7bn) in the first half of 2025, while imported films declined by 44.4% to $357.2m (RMB2.5bn). However, the figures are skewed by Ne Zha 2’s outsized success and the fact that Hollywood had a relatively big hit in the first half of last year with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which grossed $133m (RMB956m).
Chinese audiences obviously still love monsters, because the biggest Hollywood film so far this year is Jurassic World Rebirth, released at the beginning of the second half on July 2, which has already overtaken Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning with a gross to date of $68.8m (RMB493.7m).
F1: The Movie opened on June 27 and has grossed $40m (RMB292m) to date, while Superman opened July 11 and is currently on $8m (RMB58.5m). Upcoming Hollywood releases include Smurfs, opening today (July 18), and The Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25.
So far this year, Jurassic World Rebirth and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning are the only non-Chinese films in the Top Ten, but Japanese anime continues to perform strongly, with Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback ranking at number 13 with $50.6m (RMB363m) since its late June release. Pow also notes that 20 Japanese films, mostly anime titles, were released in the first half of 2025, compared to a total of 24 Japanese films for the whole of 2024.
The highest-grossing US indie so far this year is Lionsgate’s Ballerina, ranking at number 44 with $7.4m (RMB53m). Italian drama There’s Still Tomorrow is still the highest-grossing import outside of US and Japanese films, ranking at number 48 with $6.3m (RMB45m).
Among local films, while the period following Ne Zha 2 was extremely quiet, several big titles have been lined up for the summer box office period, which runs from the beginning of June to the end of August.
Period drama She’s Got No Name, directed by Peter Ho-sun Chan and starring Zhang Ziyi, is the highest-grossing Chinese-language release of the summer so far, taking $52m (RMB374m) since its June 21 release. The film, which premiered at Cannes in 2023, has since been cut into two parts, the first of which played as the opening film of this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (June 13-22) before its current release.
Other Chinese releases so far this summer, including thriller Malice produced by Chen Sicheng; Rao Xiaozhi’s A Cool Fish 2 and Light Chaser animation Curious Tales Of A Temple, have not been huge, perhaps suggesting continuing audience apathy for anything except the biggest and buzziest titles.
Hopes are pinned on three big films that are opening this weekend – Jiang Wen’s You Are The Best, loosely based on the early life of the pianist Lang Lang; period comedy The Lychee Road, directed by and starring comedian Da Peng; and animation The Legend Of Hei 2.
At the time of writing (July 18 noon), The Legend Of Hei 2 was topping the box office with $3.5m (RMB25.5m). Chinese drama Girl On Edge, directed by Zhou Jinghao and starring Zhang Zifeng, which premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival, is also opening this weekend.
Some of the bigger Chinese films have been switching release dates but at the time of writing, other upcoming releases include two films about the Japanese Imperial Army’s atrocities during the Second World War – Shen Ao’s Dead To Rights on July 25 and Zhao Linshan’s 731 on July 31. Dead To Rights looks at evidence taken from a photo studio that the Nanjing Massacre really occurred, while 731 deals with the Japanese army’s biochemical experiments in Northeast China. Perhaps not the most cheery topics for summer viewing.
One of the most anticipated titles of the summer, Guan Hu’s $80m war epic Dongji Island, scheduled for August 8 release, is also set against the backdrop of what the Japanese army was getting up to in the Second World War, and again seems timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in August 2025.
Dongji Island is based on a true story about the attempts of a group of Chinese islanders to rescue British prisoners-of-war on a torpedoed Japanese war ship, which sounds less depressing than massacres and biochemistry, and features big stars with Zhu Yilong and Ni Ni heading up the cast.
Also set for summer release are animation Tom And Jerry: Forbidden Compass, a co-production between Warner Bros and China Film, which is scheduled for August 9, while Jackie Chan’s latest action adventure, The Shadow’s Edge, is set for August 16. The season wraps up with Cao Baoping’s black comedy One Wacky Summer, starring Guo Qilin, Qi Xi and Sun Anke, which is set for August 29.
On the whole though, there doesn’t appear to be any standout laugh-out-loud comedies that tap into the current zeitgeist like Successor did last summer with a gross of $463m (RMB3.3bn). Still, you never know with Chinese audiences what is going to blow up. Nobody really expected Ne Zha 2 to become a record-breaking hit over Lunar New Year.
IN THE TRADES:
LAB & FUNDING NEWS:
Busan’s ACFM Launches Korea Co-production Support Fund
‘Brilliant Melody’ Takes Top Award At BIFAN’s NAFF Project Market
TECH NEWS:
CJ ENM Unveils Artificial Intelligence Strategy “Across Entire Content Value Chain”
PRODUCTION NEWS:
Nigeria & Brazil Ink Landmark Audiovisual Co-Production Agreement
Team Behind Singapore Oscar Submission ‘La Luna’ Reunite For Family Drama ‘Badak’
Thailand’s M Studio Unveils Action-Heavy Slate at Shanghai Market
Supernatural Horror ‘The Sacrifice,’ Featuring Lav Diaz, Wraps Production, Unveils Full Cast
Runup Vietnam readies local remakes of Korea’s ‘The Last Ride’ and ‘Love Reset’
‘Chrysalis’ Wraps Principal Photography in Vietnam, Releases First-Look Images
Warner Bros. Pictures Inks Five-Film Deal With Bhanushali Studios, JOAT Films for Indian Adaptations
Indian Ad Maestro Prasoon Pandey to Make Feature Film Debut With Contemporary Mythological Thriller
Khyentse Norbu’s ‘Perfect God’ Wraps Production in Kathmandu, Unveils First Looks
Taiwanese directors team with Korean, Thai and Indonesian producers for slate of six genre films
CORPORATE:
CJ ENM America Hires ‘Walker’ Exec Courteney Tarantin As VP Of Scripted TV
Golden Harvest exits Hong Kong cinema market
CANCELLED:
India’s Film Board Censors ‘Superman’ Kiss Scene
CURATED:
‘The Ugly Stepsister’ Scoops Best Of Bucheon Award At BIFAN
Tunisia’s ‘Red Path’ Wins Black Iris At Amman Film Festival
‘Island Of The Winds’, ‘Yen And Ai-Lee’ Take Top Prizes At Taipei Film Awards
Kyrgyzstan’s ‘Black Red Yellow’ Wins Best Film In Shanghai
Jafar Panahi’s Cannes-winner ‘It Was Just An Accident’ scoops Sydney Film Prize
