During the 2026 New Year holiday, the film market got off to a strong start, achieving a "bumper opening." According to online platform data, as of midnight on January 3, the box office revenue for the 2026 New Year holiday movie season had already exceeded 620 million yuan. Today, going to the cinema has not only become a popular choice for holiday consumption among the public but has also formed a consumption chain extending from box office sales to dining and retail, continuously stimulating consumer activity during the holidays.
The "movie-watching fever" in the New Year holiday film market drove a "consumption boom." The market offered a rich supply of films, with a concentrated release covering various genres such as comedy, suspense, and animation, meeting the viewing expectations of audiences across different age groups. In Zhengzhou, Henan, going to the cinema became the preferred way for many residents to celebrate the holiday. At several cinemas in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, long queues formed at ticket counters, and the waiting areas were packed with patrons. One moviegoer from Lianyungang remarked that they had bought tickets for two consecutive showings to watch all the films they wanted to see in one go during the break, followed by a family meal. Adjacent entertainment venues like arcades, bubble tea shops, and snack bars all experienced peak customer traffic during the holiday, forming a leisure consumption chain centered around cinemas that integrated entertainment and dining. In Tianjin, many cinemas scheduled nearly a hundred screenings daily, with the latest shows extending past midnight. It was observed that after movies ended, a large number of audience members did not head straight home but instead flowed towards the dining areas within shopping malls, holding their ticket stubs. Even close to midnight, queues formed outside numerous restaurants in the malls. Li Xiaotong, Promotion Manager of Longfor Tianjin Meijiang Tiandi Mall, noted that customers could now enjoy corresponding discounts at some of their food and beverage outlets by presenting a movie ticket stub, adding that this year's holiday season had a stronger family-oriented theme, making family outings and consumption particularly noticeable.
The booming holiday film market reflects the vigorous vitality of the New Year consumer market. Currently, China's film industry is transitioning from a singular box-office economy to a diversified consumption ecosystem, opening up new avenues for economic growth. Experts indicate that since last year, the industry has been shifting from a traditional box-office model towards diverse consumption formats. New integrated models such as "film + dining," "film + performances," "film + exhibitions," and "film + sports" are deeply merging cinema with urban consumption. Yang Aili, Chief Analyst of Media and Internet Industries at China Securities, stated that, according to internationally accepted norms, every yuan spent on a movie ticket typically drives about five yuan in related consumption, encompassing dining, transportation, merchandise, and cultural tourism, which substantively boosts the economy. Experts further emphasized that the strong start of the New Year holiday box office not only reflects audience consumption enthusiasm but, more importantly, the emotional and experiential consumption converted through the film market will provide a continuous stream of new momentum for economic development. Sun Yanbin, a lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy, commented that the fervor in the film market also serves as a barometer for the socio-economy, indicating Chinese residents' deeper demand for cultural consumption and high-quality developmental spending.
The advancement of domestic advanced equipment is providing a core upgrade for the film industry. Currently, the hard and soft power of Chinese cinema is continuously strengthening. Enhanced film industry capabilities are deepening cooperation between film production and domestic industrial sectors, also creating new development opportunities for equipment manufacturing enterprises. Recent observations on film sets revealed many new changes. On the set of a domestic sci-fi film, the production vehicle used featured enormous off-road tires nearly as tall as a person, and its robust boom had a maximum lifting capacity of 55 tons. Despite its massive size, the key characteristic of this behemoth is its "flexibility." To maximize its utility in film production, engineers equipped this off-road crane with a newly developed coupling device enabling agile movement across five degrees of freedom. Paired with an extendable boom reaching up to 36 meters, it can adapt to large-span, multi-angle shooting requirements in confined spaces or complex terrains. Xia Tao, an engineer at the XCMG Future Product Technology Research Institute, explained that this specially developed coupling device for photographic equipment adds a second level of luffing and rotation motion, creating a multi-degree-of-freedom movement system that allows for very rich cinematic motion sequences. A row of engineering vehicles, painted with a highly futuristic aesthetic, serve not only as movie props but are also practical vehicles used in real-world production and life. For instance, a walking excavator nicknamed the "Steel Mantis" gained widespread attention after appearing in a film and is now widely used in emergency rescue, power grid construction, and forestry in mountainous areas due to its outstanding mobility.
The film industry is opening new development tracks for industrial enterprises. While domestic machinery supports cinematic imagination, what changes has film brought to Chinese industrial companies? An investigation at a machinery equipment manufacturer in Xuzhou provided some answers. Company executives reported that since participating in film productions, the brand's visibility and influence have significantly increased, attracting high-end talent domestically and internationally and opening new business avenues. Liu Bin, Deputy Head of the Brand and Culture Development Department at XCMG, mentioned that through integration with film IPs, their cultural and creative product line has expanded to over 500 items, generating cultural industry revenues reaching tens of millions of yuan. Furthermore, the company has jointly established a Film Industrialization Equipment Joint Innovation Laboratory with several film studios, where new technologies and achievements to boost the development of China's film industry are taking root. In a massive vibration and noise laboratory, staff prepared to test the noise levels of an engineering machine. Given the high requirements for ambient sound during filming, engineers are continuously optimizing and improving the noise levels of this equipment to better suit on-set needs. Wang Sanlong, an engineer at the XCMG Industrial Technology Research Institute, stated they are further researching body structure coverings and acoustic materials, including active noise cancellation technologies, aiming to reduce noise by another 3 to 5 decibels to meet the specific demands of film production. In an environmental laboratory, vehicles undergo testing. Behind glass doors, a large high-low temperature test chamber can reach extremes of 70°C and -55°C, subjecting equipment to repeated tests to ensure reliable operation in extreme filming environments like icy conditions or desert heat. A series of test scenarios tailored to film industry needs are bridging the gap between manufacturing and cinematic requirements. Laboratory heads reported that several newly developed devices have recently been deployed for film shooting. With the rapid development of China's film industry, large-scale film and television equipment is expected to form a substantial market space.
Industrial chains are accelerating their aggregation, and animation companies are rushing to release new content. Among the top ten highest-grossing films in the Chinese box office for 2025, animated features secured four spots. Chengdu, Sichuan, a major hub for China's animation industry, has seen its animation studios bustling with activity lately. At an animation studio in Chengdu High-tech Zone, staff were busy preparing script development for a new film. The company primarily focuses on producing animated features based on the domestic fantasy IP "Zhe Tian." The surge in the animated film market last year has prompted them to set new development goals. Wang Lei, Chairman of Chengdu Xingyue Chenshi Culture Development Co., Ltd., admitted they hadn't initially planned to produce a theatrical film so quickly, but the success of the past year made them realize this path could be accelerated; preparations began in the latter half of last year, hoping for a release next year. After a script discussion, Wang Lei proceeded to a nearby motion capture studio to coordinate production schedules with partner companies. He noted that motion capture helps realize their creative ideas, and tasks that previously required coordination with studios in Nanjing or Shanghai can now mostly be accomplished locally in Chengdu, with the studio just a five-minute walk away—"a cup of coffee doesn't even have time to get cold." Currently, Chengdu is home to over 1,300 film and television companies covering all aspects of production. The accelerated formation of film industry clusters is turning the concept of an animation film industrial chain within "a cup of coffee's distance" into reality. Zhou Zhicheng, Motion Capture Photography Director at Chengdu Digital Sky Technology Co., Ltd., mentioned they are very busy with numerous projects, sometimes working late, and schedules are already booked until the end of the month. Subsequently, Wang Lei hurried to a local Shu embroidery workshop.文创 design work for movie peripherals, which traditionally started after a film's release, is now being integrated right from the early preparation stages. From clothing to bracelets, ribbons to pendants, the collision between this three-thousand-year-old traditional craft and the film industry is opening new avenues for disseminating intangible cultural heritage.
Films are igniting demand for cultural and creative peripherals, prompting toy companies to seize the New Year market. Films possess strong IP derivative potential. Last year's record-breaking animated film box office simultaneously boosted the derivative economy. With the booming New Year holiday market and the upcoming Spring Festival season, many toy manufacturers are already operating at full capacity to capture New Year sales. In a toy factory in Xiangtan, Hunan, hundreds of workers were busy on production lines fulfilling the first batch of New Year orders. Last year, when producing toys for "Ne Zha II," the company faced capacity constraints due to insufficient preliminary mold preparation. This year, they opted for early planning. Yang Jie, responsible person at Sunny Side Toy Manufacturing Co., Ltd., stated that in the second half of 2025, they prepared five times the number of molds in anticipation of the 2026 New Year and Spring Festival animated film seasons, enabling a fivefold increase in production capacity to meet a monthly output value of 200 million yuan. Yang Jie reported that the company's sales tripled in 2025, leading to the launch of four new production bases nationwide and an increase in staff from 600 to over 1,500 people, with the film market providing strong development confidence. The market boom is also accelerating the transformation and upgrading of many toy enterprises. In Zhongshan, Guangdong, the country's first 3D trendy toy "lights-out" factory recently commenced operations, with over ten production lines running at full speed. Xu Lingyun, Sales Vice President of the toy company, highlighted that the factory's main features are high automation, intelligence, and unmanned operation; each injection molding device now has a capacity of about 75,000 units per day, compared to only 50,000 in traditional factories, while the defect rate has dropped from 5-10% to just 0.1%. It was understood that the company has multiple production bases across the country, and the launch of this lights-out factory not only represents a single facility upgrade but also lays the foundation for the intelligent upgrading of the entire manufacturing system.
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