According to data from the Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of 16:00 on May 29th, the total box office of films in May has successfully surpassed the 1.5 billion yuan mark. In the box office ranking, “Dumpling Queen”, “Game of Gold Hunt” and “The First Red Day of Life” ranked in the top three.
A thorough analysis of the revenue situation of the film market in May reveals that the total amount was 1.538 billion yuan, a decline of as much as 48% compared with 2.949 billion yuan in the same period last year. The overall poor performance of new films during the May Day holiday is the key factor leading to this phenomenon. This year’s May Day holiday box office revenue was only 750 million yuan, while the figure for the same period last year was 1.528 billion yuan.
Since the Spring Festival film season, the film market has been Mired in a shortage of big-budget and highly-acclaimed films. Hollywood’s introduction of films such as “Captain America: Civil War”, “Snow White”, and “The Thunder” not only suffered a crushing defeat at the box office but also faced widespread criticism in terms of word-of-mouth, even falling into a difficult situation of a “100 million yuan box office defense battle”. The live-action film adaptation of Disney’s animated series “Interstellar Baby Scrooge”, which was released in May, although it sparked a viewing craze in the North American market, failed to adapt well to the Chinese market. Its box office revenue still failed to exceed 100 million yuan within a week of its release.
Chen Dan, an expert from the Yangtze River Delta Film Market Research Center, told the Securities Daily in an interview, “Domestic audiences’ expectations for imported films focus on whether the films have novelty and can evoke emotional resonance.”
In the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival film season, the imported film “Mission: Impossible 8: Final Reckoning” (hereinafter referred to as “Mission: Impossible 8”) is expected to break through the competition. According to data from the Lighthouse Professional Edition, the current box office chart of new films during the Dragon Boat Festival (including preview screenings and advance sales) has reached 35.437 million yuan. Among them, “Mission: Impossible 8” is temporarily at the top with a box office of 18.655 million yuan. Cheng Fei, the CEO of Top Film, analyzed: “Mission: Impossible 8 is the largest new film in terms of volume during the Dragon Boat Festival, and its presale box office is higher than that of its predecessors.” The Mission: Impossible IP has a huge fan base in the Chinese mainland. Moreover, as the final chapter of the series, this film is expected to have a significant boost to the box office. The Lighthouse Professional Edition predicts that the final box office of “Mission: Impossible 8” in China may reach 500 million yuan.
It is worth noting that as the summer film season (June 1st to August 31st) approaches, the competition for box office receipts is becoming increasingly fierce. According to the reporter’s statistics, 52 films have been scheduled for the summer vacation season so far, among which 10 are animated films. From the perspective of the producers, the main producers of many animated films involve listed companies. For instance, the main producers of “Big Head Son and Small Head Dad 4: Perfect Dad” are Wanda Film, Maoyan Entertainment and China Online. The main producers of “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio: Lanruo Temple” include China Ruyi, Wanda Pictures, Alibaba Pictures and China Film. “Little Monster of Langlang Mountain” was jointly produced by Shanghai Film and Maoyan Entertainment. In addition, the imported animated film “The Earth’s Correspondent” produced by Pixar, a subsidiary of Disney, will also become a strong contender in the summer film season. Domestic films such as “Lychees in Chang ‘an” and “731” have sparked widespread discussions on social media and are highly likely to become blockbusters this summer’s film season.
Chen Dan believes: “This summer’s film season features a rich variety of film types, and there is a high possibility that its box office will surpass last year. However, the final outcome still depends on the quality of the films themselves and the topic heat created by the promotion.” Liu Zhengshan, the executive deputy secretary-general of the National Film Think Tank of Beijing Film Academy, pointed out: “The mainstream audience of the summer film season is mainly students (including some parents). Their diverse needs should be fully considered, especially balancing the supply of top blockbusters and various types of films to prevent a rush of film releases and avoid uneven popularity. At the same time, attention should be paid to IP exploration and content innovation.”
As of 12:49 on May 30th, according to data from Lighthouse Professional Edition, the total box office of new films during the 2025 Dragon Boat Festival (including preview screenings and advance sales) has exceeded 50 million yuan. Mission: Impossible 8 continues to lead the advance sales chart. With the arrival of the Dragon Boat Festival and summer film seasons, it remains to be seen whether the film market can achieve a box office turnaround by taking advantage of these popular films.
Related topics:
