China's 2025 box office on track to hit 50 billion yuan

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 42nd Antarctic Expedition team has started unloading supplies for scientific exploration after arriving at waters near the Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica.

The ongoing seven-month scientific exploration mission is supported by Chinese icebreakers the Xuelong and the Xuelong 2, which set sail from Shanghai on Nov 1.

The two icebreakers will deliver about 2,000 tons of supplies to the Zhongshan Station for scientific exploration.

The Xuelong 2 arrived first at a designated unloading spot about 12 kilometers from the Zhongshan Station. Later, the ship's Ka-32 helicopter transported in batches more than 300 tons of polar fuel to the research base when weather conditions were favorable.

"Nearly 90 members of the expedition team carried by the two ship are already at the Zhongshan Station, preparing for receiving supplies and assignments for scientific exploration," said Wang Tao, person in charge of unloading operations at the Zhongshan Station.

Thanks to more than 30 hours of efforts by the Xuelong 2 to widen the channel and lead the way, the Xuelong, which was carrying about 1,500 tons of supplies, has also arrived at the unloading spot.

The unloading operations, involving a combination of sea-ice transport and helicopter lifts, are expected to be finished within two weeks.

And then, the Xuelong and the Xuelong 2 will proceed to China's Qingling Station and Changcheng Station in Antarctica, respectively.

The expedition team includes more than 500 members from over 80 institutions on the Chinese mainland, along with researchers from more than 10 other countries and regions, such as Thailand, Chile and Portugal, as well as China's Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, in support of broader international scientific collaboration.

They will conduct multi-disciplinary scientific surveys, advance several major national research projects, and test domestically developed equipment under polar conditions.

Particularly, scientific drilling experiments in lakes deep in the Antarctic inland ice sheet will be carried out for the first time.

China's 42nd Antarctic Expedition team unloads supplies at Zhongshan Station