China's 2025 box office revenue exceeds 51.8 bln yuan

China's 2025 box office revenue totaled 51.8 billion yuan (about 7 billion U.S. dollars), up nearly 22 percent year on year, according to the China Film Administration on Thursday.

Of the total box office, the year-end's grossed over 5.3 billion (about 758 million U.S. dollars), a new record in eight years.

Domestic films accounted for 41.2 billion (about 5.89 billion U.S. dollars) yuan of total box office revenue, representing a 79-percent rise over the previous year. Total admissions stood at 1.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent.

A total of 51 films had recorded box office revenue exceeding 100 million yuan during the year, including 33 domestic productions.

The defining trend of the 2025 film market was the unprecedented success of animated films. Data indicated that 2025 was the highest-grossing year for animated films in the history of Chinese cinema, with animation occupying four of the top 10 spots at the annual box office.

Chinese animation film "Ne Zha 2" became both the all-time box office champion in Chinese film history and the top-grossing animated film worldwide, earning 15.446 billion yuan (about 2.21 billion U.S. dollars), while "Nobody" grossed 1.7 billion yuan (about 251 million U.S. dollars), setting a new record for 2D animated films in Chinese box office history.

The two biggest animated hits both drew on elements of traditional Chinese culture, with 'Nezha 2' inspired by the myth of a rascally young deity, and 'Nobody' retelling the classic work "Journey to the West" from the perspective of the story's yaoguai monsters.

"The movie that left the deepest impression [in 2025] on me was 'Nezha 2' released in January. It draws from traditional Chinese cultural story and mythology. The production is exquisite, and many plot points were truly touching," said Zhao Zhouyu, a moviegoer in Beijing

"'Nezha 2' left me in awe. We watched 'Nezha 2' together, right when it came out this year. We've watched the first one. And during the summer holiday, we also watched 'Nobody' together. My son wanted to see both and I just came and accompany him. I feel that our domestic animated films have made enormous progress," said Dang Xinyuan, another moviegoer in Beijing.

"'Nobody' has impressed me the most. The characters in the film are just like us ordinary people working hard to live. It was both healing and empowering," said a moviegoer in central China's Henan Province.

China's 2025 box office revenue exceeds 51.8 bln yuan

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday presided over a State Council executive meeting that studied work on building a unified national market and reviewed and approved a plan for the development of a modern emergency response system during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Noting that building a unified national market is essential to advancing high-quality development, the meeting called for deepening institutional frameworks in areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, social credit and market exit mechanisms.

The meeting also urged efforts to advance high-standard connectivity of market infrastructure to facilitate smooth economic circulation and effectively reduce logistics costs across society.

Emergency management is critical to protecting people's lives and property, the meeting said. It called for accelerating the development of a modern emergency response system, deepening reform and innovation in emergency management, and improving coordinated response mechanisms.

Efforts should be made to strengthen risk prevention at the source, enhance monitoring, forecasting and early warning, and accelerate a shift in governance toward proactive prevention, according to the meeting.

A draft revision of the Law on the People's Bank of China was also discussed and approved in principle at the meeting, which decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation.

Chinese premier chairs State Council executive meeting