China’s pre-sales for movies set to debut during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday have exceeded 600 million yuan (approximately $83 million) within just seven days of pre-sales beginning on January 19, marking a new record for the fastest time to reach the milestone, according to data from box office trackers.
As of 11:38 a.m. on Sunday, domestic films “The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero,” “Ne Zha 2,” and “Detective Chinatown 1900” ranked as the top three pre-sold movies, according to Dengta Data.
Leading the chart is “The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero,” an adaptation of a Chinese wuxia classic, with over 243 million yuan in pre-sales. “Ne Zha 2,” the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster “Ne Zha,” claimed second place with nearly 106 million yuan, while “Detective Chinatown 1900” – the latest installment of the “Detective Chinatown” franchise – secured third with over 103 million yuan in pre-sales.
The Spring Festival holiday, one of China’s most lucrative movie-going seasons, runs from January 28 to February 4 this year, one day longer than usual. Six domestic films are set to premiere on January 29, the first day of the 2025 Chinese New Year.
This year’s lineup offers a diverse range of genres, with the top five pre-sold films spanning martial arts, mythology, animation, and action. The average runtime of these films exceeds 137 minutes, setting a record for the longest average runtime in the history of Spring Festival releases.
Xiang Kai, a playwright and director, highlighted the cultural depth of this year’s films, calling it “the strongest lineup ever during this period.” He added that the diversity and cultural richness of the offerings demonstrate growing confidence in Chinese culture among audiences.
The films have sparked widespread discussions on Chinese social media. On lifestyle app RedNote, many users shared plans to watch “Ne Zha 2” with their children. On Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, one user expressed excitement about seeing “The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero” with family. Nostalgic viewers, particularly those born in the 1970s and 1980s, mentioned that the movie would evoke childhood memories of watching the original TV series.
Wang Shu, a movie data analyst, told CMG, “On the first day of pre-sales, we noticed that over a quarter of ticket buyers planned to watch movies in groups of three or more, a five percent increase from last year. This suggests that this year’s Spring Festival films have a stronger appeal for family viewings.”
To boost the film market, the China Film Administration has launched a consumption promotion campaign, offering subsidies totaling 600 million yuan to the public through the end of February. Additionally, provincial governments in regions such as Guangdong, Hubei and Jiangsu are issuing tens of millions of yuan in vouchers to encourage cinema attendance.
The total box office revenue for the 2025 Spring Festival season is projected to surpass last year’s record of approximately 8 billion yuan. U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley predicts that strong releases and robust market demand could drive total revenue to a new high of 8.8 billion yuan, a nine percent increase year-on-year.
According to Wei Pengju, dean of the Institute of Cultural and Economic Research at the Central University of Finance and Economics, the pre-sales record reflects the synergy between cultural development and economic growth, ensuring a brighter, more sustainable, and competitive future for China’s film industry.