by Xinhua writer Zhang Yunlong
BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) — China’s film market staged a powerful comeback in 2025, with annual ticket sales rising nearly 22 percent to approximately 51.83 billion yuan (about 7.37 billion U.S. dollars), fueled by an unprecedented animation boom that saw the genre claim nearly half of the total revenue, according to China Film Administration data released on Thursday.
The remarkable rebound, which follows 2024’s 42.5-billion-yuan total, was bookended by two record-shattering animated sequels: the homegrown phenomenon “Ne Zha 2” ignited the market early in the year, while Disney’s “Zootopia 2” powered a year-end surge. Together, they turned 2025 into what industry analysts are calling “a banner year for animation,” challenging simplistic narratives of a market turning inward and underscoring that regardless of origin, quality storytelling still reigns supreme.
Animation dominated like never before, making up 48.77 percent of the 2025 box office. Four animated features landed in the year’s top 10, with “Ne Zha 2,” “Zootopia 2,” “Nobody” and “Boonie Bears: Future Reborn,” placing first, second, sixth and ninth.
Leading the pack, “Ne Zha 2” — a modern reinterpretation of a mythological rebel — raged its way to a staggering 15.4 billion yuan on the Chinese mainland alone, and to 2.2 billion U.S. dollars globally, becoming the world’s top-grossing animated feature.
It is “a miracle and a peak in Chinese cinema, a record that may remain unbroken for a long time,” said Chen Xuguang, director of Peking University’s Institute of Film, Television and Theatre.
“The sheer scale of ‘Ne Zha 2’ directly lifted the ceiling for what a single film can achieve in China,” said Lai Li, an analyst at film data platform Maoyan, in an earlier note to Xinhua. “It set the tone for the entire year.”
The animation wave crested again during the end-of-the-year moviegoing season. Disney’s “Zootopia 2” delivered a stunning performance, becoming the highest-grossing imported animated film in China’s history and the first imported title to cross the 1-billion-yuan mark in China since 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Its roughly 570-million-U.S.-dollar haul from Chinese theaters represented nearly 40 percent of its global total, far surpassing its North American earnings and firmly establishing China as the sequel’s defining market.
“It highlights the enormous market foundation and consumption demand in China,” said Zhang Jinfeng, deputy editor-in-chief of China Film News, in a television interview. The performance also reflects Chinese cinema’s “open, inclusive attitude toward globally advanced cinematic achievements,” he said, adding that China has become “a key engine for global box-office growth.”
The success of both blockbusters, despite their different origins, shared a crucial ingredient: a powerful emotional connection to contemporary audiences.
While “Ne Zha 2” tapped into a defiant, epic struggle, summer hit “Nobody” — now China’s highest-grossing 2D animation — found its magic in the mundane. The tale of four lowly monsters clumsily impersonating the legendary heroes of “Journey to the West” mirrors a modern working-class quest for dignity and meaning, striking a chord with viewers and critics alike, including Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.
“What matters is not the era in which a story takes place, but the era in which it is told,” said the film’s screenwriter, Liu Jia, who is also an associate professor at Beijing Normal University. “For me, that means observing the emotions of the times and embedding them into stories.”
The animation frenzy also sparked introspection in other genres. Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Film Association, noted in a social media post that imaginative animation has become the clear favorite among youth, whose social media dominance dictates market trends. He contrasted this with an aging live-action sector, warning of contraction should it fail to attract younger audiences.
Beyond animation, the year saw multiple other bright spots. War films like “Dead to Rights” and “Evil Unbound,” which respectively garnered over 3 billion yuan and 1.94 billion yuan, won success by adopting intimate, human-scale perspectives rather than grand narratives. Analysts have also noted the Chinese market’s remarkable diversity, with documentaries, arthouse films from international festivals and niche imports from Europe all finding dedicated audiences.
2025, as noted by Chen Jin, an analyst with movie data platform Beacon, is the fifth time China’s annual box office has crossed the 50-billion-yuan threshold, following 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023. According to Maoyan data, China contributed nearly 24 percent of the global box office in 2025, trailing only North America, which accounted for roughly 29 percent.
Widely hailed by observers as satisfying for the industry, 2025’s box office figures have reaffirmed the depth of China’s audience base, as well as its vast potential. And the ultimate takeaway for filmmakers is clear: the market hungers for compelling stories and rich emotional experiences, regardless of their origin. ■
