Recently, the Maoyan Research Institute released the "2025 China Film Market Data Insights" report. The report indicates that the Chinese film market in 2025 showed positive momentum amidst structural adjustments, with blockbuster films driving growth and strong IP films providing a boost, injecting growth dynamics into the market. Simultaneously, the Chinese film market still possesses room for development. The Maoyan Research Institute believes that, facing the constant evolution of market and audience preferences, a new balance must be established between genre maturity, emotional resonance capability, and market sustainability.
In terms of overall performance, the Chinese film market achieved significant recovery in 2025 under the influence of multiple factors. The annual total box office revenue reached 51.832 billion yuan, with total admissions hitting 1.238 billion; both figures saw increases exceeding 20% compared to the previous year. Looking at box office distribution, the film market structure gradually adjusted in 2025. Among the top ten new films by box office, four earned over 3 billion yuan, and eight surpassed 1 billion yuan. The annual box office share of domestic films was slightly higher than the previous year.
From a regional structure perspective, the trend of film consumption penetrating lower-tier cities further intensified. The report shows that over the past three years, the box office share of third- and fourth-tier cities has continuously increased, with the contribution from these下沉市场 reaching its highest level in nearly five years during 2025. Concurrently, the proportion of new users and low-frequency users rose year-on-year. As films reach these下沉市场, the coverage and depth of film consumption continue to expand, exploring broader development space for the industry and activating deeper layers of the incremental market.
In the 2025 film market, animated films emerged as one of the most noteworthy highlights. Data shows that the number of animated film releases remained generally stable over the past three years. Driven by key titles such as "Nezha: The Devil's Child Makes Waves in the Sea" and "Zootopia 2," the total box office for animated films in 2025 achieved leapfrog growth, with 57 films contributing over 25 billion yuan in revenue, significantly impacting the annual box office structure.
Regarding audience demographics, the viewer base for animated films continues to broaden. On one hand, young users aged 18 to 30 remain highly active on content platforms, providing significant support for film promotion and word-of-mouth dissemination. On the other hand, the proportion of viewers aged 30 and above remains stable, forming an important supporting force for animated film box office. "Nezha: The Devil's Child Makes Waves in the Sea," released during the Spring Festival period, saw a noticeable increase in family viewing ratios, further enhancing the appeal of animated films among parent-child and family audiences.
Lai Li, a market analyst at MAOYAN ENT, stated that the 2025 film market maintained a steady and progressive development trend amidst structural adjustments. Supported by hit films, several key release periods performed beyond expectations, setting numerous new records and bringing surprises to the industry and audiences. However, the phenomenon of uneven market performance remains severe. Overall, the Chinese film market boasts a deep audience base and possesses broad development prospects and upside potential. The crucial long-term challenge for the industry will be how to continuously capture audience attention and create high-quality content that aligns with viewer preferences, combining popularity, critical acclaim, and freshness.
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