China Box Office Roars Back to Life as ‘Nezha 2’ Earns $434M Over First 5 Days of Lunar New Year Holiday

Patrick Brzeski

Mon, February 3, 2025 at 6:01 AM UTC

2 min read

China's theatrical box office has seen a significant rebound, with ticket sales revenue totaling $978 million since the Chinese New Year holiday began, marking a 27.3 percent increase compared to last year's holiday period.
Enlight Pictures' animated sequel Nezha 2, directed by Yu Yang, has become a major box office success in China, earning $434 million and is projected to potentially surpass the current record holder, The Battle at Lake Changjin, as the country's biggest blockbuster of all time.
Imax has reported strong sales during this year's Chinese New Year holiday, with total revenue reaching $38.1 million over the first five days, surpassing the company's previous record of $34 million in 2023, indicating a positive trend in the Chinese film industry.

Bouncing back from a major slowdown in 2024, China's theatrical box office is generating boffo business again. Ticket sales revenue in the country has totaled $978 million since the Chinese New Year holiday kicked off Jan. 29, a 27.3 percent compared to the first five days of last year's holiday.

Enlight Pictures' animated sequel Nezha 2 is powering the huge numbers. The film, directed by Yu Yang, has earned $434 million and is on track to overtake the war film The Battle at Lake Changjin ($913 million) as China's biggest blockbuster of all time. Ticketing app Maoyan currently projects Nezha 2 to climb as high as $944 million (6.8 billion RMB). The first Nezha film became China's biggest animated hit ever with $699.3 million performance in 2019.

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Wanda Pictures' comedy-mystery franchise installment Detective Chinatown 1900 , co-directed by Chen Sicheng and Dai Mo, opened in second place with $253.1 million over the first five days of the CNY. Beijing Culture's fantasy sequel Creation of the Gods scored third place with $124.3 million, and Fantawild's latest family feature, Boonie Bears : Future Reborn — an annual staple at Chinese cinemas during the holiday corridor — earned $57.9 million.

The Beijing film industry is likely hoping that the strong holiday numbers will draw a line under the sector's dismal performance last year. Annual ticket revenue in the country plummeted 25 percent to $5.8 billion in 2024, prompting many in the local industry to publicly worry that the theatrical model could be in terminal decline .

Giant screen operator Imax is riding high on this year's holiday results in China. The company, which released the five biggest holiday hits in its format, reported sales totaling $38.1 million over CNY's first five days. That's already better than Imax's CNY record of $34 million in 2023, with two days remaining of this year's weeklong holiday.

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