China's 2025 full-year box office is set to exceed 50 billion yuan (about 7.07 billion U.S. dollars), with a vibrant holiday film slate in the final stretch fueling strong audience turnout.
Total ticket sales already surpassed 49.16 billion yuan on Saturday, leaving a less-than-one-billion-yuan gap to reach the milestone with more than three weeks remaining in 2025.
The year-end film season, running from Nov 28 to Dec 31, features over 50 domestic and international titles spanning animation, suspense, action, sci-fi and more. Leading the charge is Disney's "Zootopia 2," which has sparked a nationwide viewing surge and set a new record as China's highest-grossing imported animated film, with earnings topping 2.5 billion yuan to date.
At a cinema in western Beijing, moviegoers packed the lobby and queued quietly for screenings over the weekend.
"I loved the first Zootopia film, so I had to come see the sequel," said a moviegoer.
Cen Junlan, marketing manager of the cinema, noted strong occupancy rates driven by the blockbuster.
"Zootopia 2 has enjoyed excellent attendance. On weekends, our average seat occupancy rate has reached around 80 percent to 90 percent. New releases including the war-themed film Gezhi Town are also performing well. Audience enthusiasm for cinema-going remains very high, and our concession stands have been extremely popular with children," Cen said. Beyond the animated hit, the season offers a wide range of imported titles including the musical fantasy "Wicked: Part Two" and the thriller "The Running Man." Domestic productions are equally prominent, led by the war film "Gezhi Town," which depicts civilian resistance against Japanese aggressors in the 1930s in China. Suspense films such as "Under Current" and "Escape From the Outland" have drawn viewers with tightly wound plots and unexpected twists, while the comedy "A Cool Fish 2" finds humor in the lives of everyday people.
Also screening are family-friendly titles such as "The Lost Daughter" and "Mr. Zheng," along with 4K restored editions of classics like "Royal Tramp" and "Witness for the Prosecution." Previously launched titles such as the sci-fi epic "Resurrection" and "Now You See Me 3" continue to attract audiences, contributing to a diverse and lively cinematic close to the year.
China's 2025 box office on track to hit 50 billion yuan
China's 2025 box office on track to hit 50 billion yuan
China's 2025 box office on track to hit 50 billion yuan
The record-setting humanoid robot half-marathon held in Beijing on Sunday highlights China's push to reward scientific breakthroughs that have a real-world impact, said an innovation expert.
The race involved over 100 humanoid robot teams, featuring an autonomous navigation group and a remote control group.
Humanoid robot model "Lightning", designed and produced by the Chinese smart device maker Honor, claimed victory with a time of 50 minutes and 26 seconds in autonomous navigation, beating the human world record of 57minutes and 20 seconds.
The model swept the podium, as it was also used by the teams who placed second and third in the race.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Sunday, Andy Mok, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization and author of The Innovation Machine, said that the competition exemplifies China's creative efforts to promote breakthroughs in science and technology, pointing to the unique incentive for the maker of the winning robot.
"We can see these really exciting results. But I think what's important to point out is what's underneath and behind them. Because if we look at how this race was structured, we would expect there to be a cash prize. That's how these typically work. But in fact, the prize for the fastest robot was a tender, meaning that the opportunity to sell a certain number of robots -- a guarantee to purchase a certain number of robots in the million RMB range. And we look at some of the other prizes available for endurance, for gate, for perception, again, what we see is the Chinese system rewarding certain behaviors, directing research and development efforts to practical breakthroughs," said Mok.
The race drew substantial attention from global media. Reuters noted in a report that this year's event has made much progress over the last one in both the performance and speed of the robots, as well as the number of participating teams.
British media Finimize cited a report from CounterPoint Research, saying that in 2025, about 16,000 units of humanoid robots were installed worldwide, with China taking up over 80 percent of the total. The humanoid robot industry has taken a giant step forward in commercialization, it said.
According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, a global market research and consulting company, the global humanoid robot market is projected to grow from 2.92 billion U.S. dollars in 2025 to 15.26 billion U.S. dollars by 2030.
Beijing's robot half-marathon signals drive for tangible innovation: expert
