As of 21:27 on January 29, the box office for the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2025 has reached 1.77 billion yuan, and the number of moviegoers has reached 34.463 million, both breaking the highest single-day record in Chinese film history.
Data source: Lighthouse Professional Edition
This Spring Festival, all companies have brought out their top projects, each of which is a super IP of Chinese-language films, which can be called a "battle of gods". It has been breaking records since the pre-sale stage, and on the day of its official release on January 29, just after noon, the box office had exceeded the final box office of the first day of the Chinese New Year last year. At present, five of the six films have box office revenues of over 100 million yuan, with "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" and "Detective Chinatown 1900" exceeding 400 million yuan, and "Investiture of the Gods Part II: The Battle of Xiqi" exceeding 300 million yuan.
Data source: Lighthouse Professional Edition
This year's Spring Festival schedule includes "Fengshen II", "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King", "The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero", and even "Boonie Bears: Reboot", which all offer impressive visual spectacles and represent a new height for the Chinese film industry.
Six new films were released on the same day, with fierce competition and outstanding performance. Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King achieved impressive box office results on the first day of its release, and its leading share of screenings since the pre-sale stage confirmed the industry's expectations for this Chinese animation.
"Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" not only continues the innovative adaptation of the previous work, but also further explores and expands the themes of "my destiny is determined by myself, not by God" and "breaking prejudice". The story follows the story of Nezha and Ao Bing who suffered a "heavenly calamity". The reshaped bodies of Mowan and Lingzhu bravely enter the three realms. Compared with the little Nezha who caused trouble everywhere in the first part, the Nezha in this part is much more mature.
While maintaining a humorous style, the film can trigger strong emotional resonance and thinking among the audience. The deep meaning behind the three family stories of Nezha, Ao Bing and Shen Gongbao is intriguing. With dense laughter, heart-wrenching tears and boiling excitement, "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" has far exceeded the connotation of a "family-friendly" movie.
The team led by director Jiaozi has spent five years creating a series of stunning and unimaginable visual spectacles. Whether it is the battle in the Dragon Palace or the wonders of the fairyland, the production team has carefully polished the details, combining traditional Chinese painting style with 3D technology, and incorporating martial arts and opera elements into the character action design, all of which are a feast for the eyes of the audience.
At present, the film has also gained a good reputation with almost "zero negative reviews". On the same day, Maoyan scored 9.7, Tao Piao Piao scored 9.8, and Weibo recommended 99%, ranking first in reputation across all platforms. It is worth mentioning that the box office of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" on the first day of its release also broke the single-day box office record for animated films in Chinese film history.
"Detective Chinatown 1900", which is comparable to "Nezha: The Devil Child Comes into the World" in terms of box office share, continues the signature style of the "Detective Chinatown" series, cleverly interweaving suspense and comedy. It has hardcore kung fu, suspenseful cases, and nonsensical plots and lines that appear from time to time. It is still a familiar formula.
The famous "Jack the Ripper" case in the West was unraveled by Qin Fu, played by Liu Haoran, using the traditional Chinese medicine method of "looking, smelling, asking and feeling", which is full of retro freshness. This time, the story is set in a unique era background. The history of Chinese laborers in San Francisco a hundred years ago makes the film more historical than the previous one, and shows the core expression hidden behind the comedy detective that surpasses the previous one.
"The Second Part of the Investiture of the Gods: The War of Xiqi" continues the grand worldview of the previous work and further expands the breadth and depth of the world of the Investiture of the Gods. In terms of character creation, each character has a distinct personality and a complex inner world. Jiang Ziya's calmness and wisdom, Ji Fa's growth and transformation, are all portrayed vividly.
The war scenes are also a highlight of the film. In the Battle of Xiqi, thousands of troops galloped and fought, drums thundered, and smoke filled the air. The special effects production not only showed the grand scale of the war, but also brought the power of mythical creatures to the fullest, such as the bravery of the Roaring Sky Dog and the agility of the Four-Unlike Animals, which brought a strong visual impact to the audience. The film also cleverly incorporated many traditional cultural elements, from the ancient divination rituals to the mysterious List of Gods, all conveying the charm of Chinese traditional culture to the audience, allowing the audience to have a deeper understanding of traditional culture while experiencing fantasy adventures.
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero" is based on the classic martial arts IP. The film is a highly condensed version of the original work, with classic characters and plots reproduced one by one. While showing the joy of revenge in the world of martial arts, it also attempts to explore the connotation of "hero", and convey positive energy values such as justice and bravery.
The story of "Boonie Bears: Restart the Future" also incorporates science fiction elements. The "colorful wasteland style" brought about by the "spore" disaster opens an imaginative journey into the future. The film continues the consistent environmental protection theme of the "Boonie Bears" IP. The whole story about love, family affection, and courage is entertaining and educational, allowing children to gain something in laughter and parents to feel warm and moved.
Stills from Operation Jiaolong
If there is one regret, it is that the "equally matched" films still made the audience too "overwhelmed". In comparison, "Operation Jiaolong" was somewhat "buried" on the first day.
As China's first military action film showing nuclear submarines in deep sea combat, "Operation Jiaolong" can be called a "massive production" and represents a new breakthrough in this genre. Whether it is "showing off equipment" or "showing off muscles", in fact, "Operation Jiaolong" can feast the eyes of the audience. However, director Dante Lam's previous main theme films were inevitably "tragic" in the midst of passion, so the film naturally suffered a bit in terms of genre as the audience was more inclined to pursue a happy and festive consumption demand on the first day of the new year.
Lighthouse analyst Chen Jin said when talking about the box office performance on the first day of the new year, "This year's Spring Festival movie season is full of blockbusters, with the most 'special effects' in history, representing the best production level of the Chinese film industry. Five out of the six films are available in four special effects theater formats: IMAX, CINITY, China Giant Screen, and Dolby Cinema, giving audiences more choices."
According to the schedule comparison of Lighthouse Professional Edition, 4,540 IMAX screenings have been scheduled for the first day of the Chinese New Year. Among them, "Fengshen II" has the largest number of IMAX screenings, accounting for 40% of the screenings. As of 19:00, IMAX box office on the first day of the Chinese New Year has exceeded 70 million, far higher than the 38.08 million on the first day of last year. The box office contribution has also increased from 2.8% to 4.1%, which also proves the audience's recognition of the audio-visual effects of this year's Spring Festival.
At present, the box office (including pre-sales) of the entire Spring Festival period has exceeded 2.4 billion, and the topic of "box office" topped the list of hot searches on Weibo on the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year.
