China's box office set for bumper May Day holiday as new releases hit big screens

China's box office is set for a bumper May Day Holiday, with a number of new releases hitting the big screens during the country's five-day holiday period which began on Friday.

Data from Maoyan, one of the country's major online movie ticket platforms, showed the box office revenue had already comfortably cleared 100 million yuan (over 14 million U.S. dollars) within the first few hours of the holiday's opening day.

This has helped push China's total box office takings for the year so far past the 13-billion-yuan mark (more than 1.9 billion U.S. dollars), following on from a successful 2025 for the domestic film industry which was boosted by the emergence of several big blockbuster hits.

This year's May Day holiday lineup is also set to offer a cinematic feast for film fans, with a diverse range of genres and subject matter, spanning history, realism, suspense, action and family fare, meeting the varied tastes of moviegoers.

Leading the way is the much-anticipated crime prequel "Cold War 1994," which reunites a trio of veteran Hong Kong film stars, and the suspense thriller "Vanishing Point" which is tipped to be a dark horse at the box office.

Other hot films during the holiday include "Blood-Spattered Cliff," an historic war epic exploring the revolutionary history of southwest China's Guizhou, and "Missions to the Moon Part One," a documentary detailing the latest achievements of China's space program. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the landmark Chang'e-6 mission, which returned mankind's first ever lunar soil samples from the moon's far side in 2024.

The animated feature "GG Bond: Race Through Time" is also expected to be a hit with families, while the Hollywood biopic "Michael," charting the story of the late U.S. pop sensation Michael Jackson, is also among the holiday releases in China.

Beyond the big screen, the China Media Group (CMG) has rolled out a series of film-themed culture and tourism initiatives across the holiday, covering multiple cities nationwide, including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Wuhan, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Xi'an.

CMG has also joined hands with cultural and tourism authorities across the country to set up open-air screening areas and immersive performance stages at iconic tourist sites across China, weaving cinema culture into the travel experience for visitors.

In addition, CMG has partnered with multiple airlines and the China State Railway Group to launch film-themed flights and train rides, making movies a central part of the journey.

China's box office set for bumper May Day holiday as new releases hit big screens

A group of Japanese peace activists gathered outside the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday to protest the government's push for constitutional revision and the lifting of a ban on lethal weapons exports.

The Japanese government officially revised the "Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology" and related implementation guidelines on April 21, allowing overseas sales of weapons, including those with lethal capabilities.

Kyodo News, a Japanese news agency, said the changes mark a significant shift in the country's defense policy, noting that it has long touted itself as a "peace-loving nation" under its war-renouncing Constitution since its defeat in World War II.

The protesters accused the Takaichi administration of lifting the export ban without sufficient debate or deliberation in the National Diet.

"Without full discussions in the National Diet, the government just arbitrarily decided on arms exports and made various excuses for it. Also, regarding the incident of intrusion into the Chinese embassy, the government has not issued an apology. Japan should be on friendly terms with neighboring countries, yet it engages in actions that incite confrontation. [Constitutional revision] is truly disturbing. Especially nowadays, the Liberal Democratic Party and Prime Minister Takaichi are pushing for arms exports in order to build a nation capable of waging war. This is absolutely unacceptable," one female protester said.

"As a matter of fact, it [lifting the ban on lethal weapons exports] was arbitrarily decided by the cabinet without any consideration of people's opinions. Revising the pacifist constitution will undoubtedly harm Japan's national interests. I sincerely hope that the Takaichi administration will stop this practice," a male protester said.

"Article 9 of Japan's constitution has gradually, to some extent, been distorted by various faits accomplis. While Japan is nominally a 'peaceful country,' this is not the case in reality," another female protester said.

Protesters rally in Tokyo against arms exports, constitutional revision