by Xinhua writer Zhang Yunlong
BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's 2025 cinema box office surpassed 50 billion yuan (more than 7 billion U.S. dollars) on Saturday -- a symbolic milestone that analysts say underscores a banner year for animation, which now accounts for nearly half of the market's revenue.
According to data from the China Film Administration, box office receipts totaled 50 billion yuan as of 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 13, with over 1.19 billion admissions recorded nationwide this year. Domestic films contributed 40.95 billion yuan of that total, or 81.9 percent, reflecting the continued dominance of locally produced titles.
Movie data platforms Maoyan and Beacon have said this is the fifth time China's annual box office has crossed the 50-billion-yuan threshold, following 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023. Of the 50 films that have grossed more than 100 million yuan this year, 33 were domestic productions and 17 were foreign titles.
Animation has emerged as the year's defining force. Beacon analyst Chen Jin noted in a statement to Xinhua that animated films generated more than 24.5 billion yuan in ticket sales in 2025 -- close to half of the annual total. Analysts have widely described this as both a "harvest year" and a "breakout year" for the genre.
Four animated titles rank among the year's top-10 films: "Ne Zha 2," "Zootopia 2," "Nobody" and "Boonie Bears: Future Reborn," which respectively place first, third, sixth and ninth.
The year began with a box office phenomenon when "Ne Zha 2" grossed 15.4 billion yuan, accounting for more than 30 percent of the entire annual box office to date and raising the revenue ceiling significantly for both individual titles and the animated film category. At the other end of the calendar, "Zootopia 2" has sparked a surge in year-end attendance, setting records for the single-day box office performance of a foreign film and for total earnings by an imported animated title in China, with cumulative receipts coming in at 3.4 billion yuan as of Saturday.
Summer release "Nobody" earned 1.7 billion yuan, becoming the highest-grossing two-dimensional animated film in China's box office history.
Maoyan analyst Lai Li has said the impact of animated hits extends well beyond ticket sales. As highly expandable forms of intellectual property, he noted, they are driving rapid growth in merchandise and licensing while demonstrating long-term franchise value.
Speaking recently about the performance of "Zootopia 2," Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Film Association and a professor at Tsinghua University, said that imaginative, high-quality animation is a clear favorite among young people, whose social media dominance means that winning their demographic wins the market.
Beyond animation, 2025 has also seen notable breakthrough hits in the war film genre. Titles such as "Dead to Rights," "Evil Unbound," "Gezhi Town" and "Dongji Rescue" moved away from grand, sweeping narratives in favor of stories told through the perspectives of ordinary individuals.
"The shift brought a sense of freshness and earned strong word-of-mouth popularity," Lai said.
"Dead to Rights," which focuses on the 1937 Nanjing Massacre by Japanese aggressors, grossed more than 3 billion yuan, emerging as one of the year's breakout hits.
The market has also benefited from a diversification of content. Many imported films achieved long box office runs based on the strength of their quality and critical reception, including "F1: The Movie," which earned 449 million yuan; Italian production "There's Still Tomorrow," which grossed nearly 45 million yuan, making China its largest international market; and British offering "National Theatre Live: Prima Facie," which raked in more than 35 million yuan in China.
Despite fluctuations, analysts say the overall trajectory of China's film market in 2025 remained stable and positive, noting that it has a deep audience base and enormous growth potential. As long as content is compelling, viewers will continue to pay for engaging stories and rich emotional experiences.
Several high-profile releases are still ahead this year, including "Avatar: Fire and Ash," along with multiple New Year's Eve titles. With more than two weeks remaining in the calendar year, industry observers expect the Chinese box office to climb further before 2025 draws to a close. ■
