China's year-to-date box office for 2025 has surpassed 2024's full-year total of 42.5 billion yuan (approximately 5.98 billion U.S. dollars), crossing a crucial milestone during the National Day holiday window as more holiday releases fill cinemas across the country.
The box office total for 2025 has reached 42.502 billion yuan as of 14:16 on Thursday, exceeding last year's final tally nearly three months before the year's end.
This year has seen the release of more than 300 films so far nationwide, spanning genres such as historical drama, comedy, animation, fantasy, and feature films.
A total of 13 new films have been scheduled for release during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday season, which started on Wednesday.
The box office for the holiday, including previews and presales, has exceeded 500 million yuan as of 12:25 on Thursday.
Leading the box office is "The Volunteers: Peace at Last," the final installment of director Chen Kaige's "Volunteers" trilogy which depicts the Chinese People's Volunteer Army in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953).
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Films such as "Dead To Rights," a historical film about the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, and "Evil Unbound", a film depicting the atrocities committed by Japan's notorious Unit 731 during World War II, present moviegoers the Chinese people's resistance efforts from diverse perspectives.
The biggest single driver of 2025's surge has been the animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2," which opened during the Chinese New Year holiday and has amassed more than 15.4 billion yuan domestically, accounting for over a third of the annual gross to date.
Other major titles include "Detective Chinatown 1900" at 3.6 billion yuan, as well as summer box office leaders "Dead to Rights" at 3 billion yuan and "Nobody" at 1.6 billion yuan, with the latter becoming the highest-grossing 2D animated film in Chinese history.
Meanwhile, China's first space documentary, filmed in 8K ultra-high-definition cameras by its astronauts, has grossed more than 43 million yuan since its September 5 premiere.
The "Shenzhou 13," or "Blue Planet Outside the Window," chronicles the Shenzhou-13 mission featuring China's first six-month manned space station stay and the first spacewalk by a Chinese female astronaut.
China's 2025 box office surpasses 2024 as National Day releases rollout
China's 2025 box office surpasses 2024 as National Day releases rollout
Foreign diplomats and scholars are looking closely at this year's "two sessions", saying China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) will not only chart the nation's economic and technological priorities but also reshape global value chains.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday, followed by the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday. Together known as the "two sessions," these meetings offer a comprehensive view into China's development priorities.
Global observers emphasized that the 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint guiding the nation's economic, social, and technological priorities over the next five years, marks a decisive shift toward high‑quality growth anchored in advanced technologies, with ripple effects across the world.
"The two sessions will discuss China's five-year plan, which is heavily oriented toward China's major technological development. I believe this is important because it represents the new blueprint for China's economy, which is now oriented toward the renowned high-quality development, and this will undoubtedly impact the entire world. I think it is worth studying. This is very important for Latin America. It will help us integrate more intelligently into global value chains and into all aspects of the major development that China is promoting in iconic industrial sectors, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space development, where Latin America also has much to contribute beyond just commercial growth," said Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja, former Argentine Ambassador to China.
"The two sessions are a major political milestone in China, and this year's gathering carries even greater significance as this year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. This plan represents not only a blueprint for China, but also a guide for other countries. Instruments like the five-year plan effectively provide greater certainty and predictability for the rest of the world," said Chilean scholar of international relations Ignacio Araya Heredia.
"This is a particularly important date, especially due to the fact that the next Five-Year Plan shall be positioned and we're going to see what its main elements shall be. Serbia, which has a very high degree of steel friendship with the People's Republic of China, can expect further assistance in identifying the most prominent areas of Serbian economy and being helped by its great partner, such as it has been done in the previous period, from one part with establishing the main infrastructure projects, but also reshaping the industrial sector of Serbia, not just Serbia, but the region as a whole," said Veljko Mijuskovic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade.
Beyond the policy framework, experts also pointed to China's achievements in green energy and technological innovation as models worth emulating.
Tomasz Bielinski, adjunct professor at the University of Gdansk's Faculty of Economics, said the robotics displays at the 2026 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival Gala reflected China's broader push in technological innovation.
"I was really impressed about the robotics. I'm very impressed with Chinese development in the technological field, we can still make great deals with Chinese businessmen and we can cooperate together to use this technology for both the good of China and the European Union. I'm aware of the innovation especially in autonomous drive on the on the Chinese side," he said.
"We hope for more of China's economic cooperation, especially in trade and also in investment. Also, and the other focus, if I talk about the focus of the development, don't forget about the green energy. We know that China is great in the electric vehicle field. So because China's electric vehicles in Indonesia nowadays, since couple of years ago, are very, very popular," said Al Busyra Basnur, president of the Indonesia-China Friendship Association.
Observers see China's new five-year plan driving high-quality development, global tech shifts
