The 2025 Chinese Spring Festival movie schedule, with pre-sale box office exceeding 1 billion and far exceeding the same period, has been highly anticipated before it even opens. The saying "the strongest Spring Festival schedule in history" has reappeared. Whether it is the "strongest" in all aspects is still controversial. In the eyes of the producers, the films that dare to enter the game undoubtedly have many selling points and greater commercial ambitions. However, as the most market-appealing schedule, the threshold of the Spring Festival schedule is not low. In previous years, it is not uncommon for films to blindly enter and eventually be temporarily withdrawn or fail. At a time when the dependence on schedules is becoming more and more obvious, the number of films in this year's Spring Festival schedule is not outstanding compared with the same period, but it wins in richness and diversity. There are a total of six films in the two major genres of live-action and animation, covering multiple genres such as martial arts, magic, comedy, action, suspense, and military, and they are all "hard dishes" with large investments and large productions. They take into account the preferences of different audiences and make distinctions in terms of content and subject matter. There is no phenomenon of a certain type of film being released in large numbers in the past.

There are six new films in the 2025 Spring Festival

What’s interesting is that the huge contrast between first place in pre-sale and first place in box office is staged again. In terms of scheduling, the fan effect, Matthew effect and long-tail effect also appear again.

According to statistics, the final box office and number of moviegoers during the 2025 Spring Festival set new records, and the overall audience satisfaction increased, which greatly boosted the confidence of the industry. However, behind the prosperity, on the one hand, the strong development momentum shown by Chinese films is gratifying, and on the other hand, the common problems exposed by these films are more worthy of attention.

Capital and technology go hand in hand, sincerity and passion are the same

The less popular a film or TV series is, the more popular its sequels are. Factors such as the accelerated market changes, the increase in entertainment options, and the impact of short videos have led to increasingly cautious investment in film and television. The films that made it into the Spring Festival schedule this year are all heavyweights selected by various companies based on the principle of prudence, and without exception, they all have super IPs.

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero" (hereinafter referred to as "The Condor Heroes") is adapted from Jin Yong's martial arts novel of the same name. Its first-place pre-sale performance not only reflects the influence of the traffic star's fan circle, but also shows the market appeal of the powerful combination of Jin Yong's novels and director Tsui Hark for martial arts audiences; "The Second Part of the Investiture of the Gods: The War in Xiqi" (hereinafter referred to as "The Investiture of the Gods 2") plays a key role in connecting the previous and the next in the "Investiture of the Gods Trilogy". The high reputation and counterattack box office of the previous work have enhanced the market confidence in the sequel.

Stills from The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero

"Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" (hereinafter referred to as "Nezha 2") has the dual IP blessing of the "Nezha" story itself and its predecessor "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World", which is the number one animated film at the box office. The impact on the audience is self-evident; "Detective Chinatown 1900" as the prequel to the "Detective Chinatown" series, continues the comedy + suspense style of the detective duo, and the market expectations are high; "Operation Jiaolong" as the sequel to the blockbuster "Operation Red Sea", is the only new mainstream film in the schedule that highlights the feelings of family and country, showing the heroic spirit, military strength and super combat power of our army, and the market expectations are positive; and the "Boonie Bears" series, which has long become a regular at the Spring Festival and has performed stably, the carefully crafted science fiction finale "Boonie Bears: Restart the Future", has the most family-friendly temperament and has its own fans of different ages.

Stills from Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King

The concentrated release of IP movies during this year's Spring Festival is more a reflection of the capital market's caution than a coincidence. In previous years, the Spring Festival period also included medium-cost films with outstanding performances such as "Sniper", "Rampage", and "The Killer Is Not Cool", as well as relatively small-investment films such as "The New King of Comedy" and "Swap Life", which eventually became cannon fodder. This year, all the films entering the Spring Festival period are large-investment and large-scale industrial films, and corresponding to this is a common market strategy that strives to expand the audience circle.

Based on market considerations of audience iteration, in terms of actor selection, in order to attract as many young audiences as possible, "Operation Jiaolong" goes for "quantity", with an all-star lineup from middle-aged tough guys to young actors; "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" focuses on "innovation", using popular stars and new actors; "Detective Chinatown 1900", "Fengshen 2" and the two animated films also hope to bring freshness to the audience, while retaining the main characters of the previous works, adding highly recognizable new characters.

In terms of plot setting, considering the need for content connection in series movies and the over-scale original novels, several films in the schedule also adopted methods such as previous events and concentrated introductions to increase the audience's familiarity with the main plot. In terms of plot advancement, "Nezha 2", "Fengshen 2" and "Detective Chinatown 1900" have all clearly absorbed the game level-breaking mode, with clear stage tasks and compact plots, in order to enhance the sense of involvement of young audiences.

Poster of Detective Chinatown 1900

In addition, in terms of film narrative, this year's Spring Festival films have prominent genre elements, and genre integration, subject matter and style expansion have been further strengthened. There are various combinations such as magic + love, martial arts + war, comedy + suspense, science fiction + disaster, and newer themes such as anti-terrorism and ecology, as well as Chinese freehand brushwork fused with innovative aesthetic styles such as cyberpunk, steampunk, and wasteland punk. Although it is still controversial whether these attempts can achieve the effect of genre optimization from the perspective of the finished film, the creative trend of integrating new ideas and enriching expressions is still worthy of recognition.

The large investment and production also make this year's Spring Festival films full of industrial sense. Both live-action and animated films use a lot of special effects. For example, Nezha 2 has nearly 2,000 special effects shots. The underwater, human world, fairyland and other scenes are full of imagination. The expressions and hair flow of the characters are realistic and natural, and the fighting movements are smooth. Fengshen 2 uses a lot of CGI image generation and capture technology, particle effects, making the battle between gods and demons more vivid and shocking. The war scenes in The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the fights in Detective Chinatown 1900, and the scenes of the defense of Overwatch against spore attacks in Boonie Bears: Restart the Future also use a lot of special effects shots.

Operation Dragon poster

In order to achieve the realism and accuracy of filming nuclear submarine operations, Operation Jiaolong built four submarine sets at a 1:1 scale in a super-large studio. The largest submarine, a 120-meter-long submarine, truly restored nine cabins including the torpedo compartment and the command compartment. Detective Chinatown 1900 also took nine months to build a town from scratch with real materials, trying to restore the social outlook of San Francisco in the early 20th century.

Overall, this year's Spring Festival movies have comprehensively demonstrated the upgrading and iteration of China's film industry technology, but they also reflect that some films rely too much on or exaggerate the market appeal of special effects. Once there are obvious technical errors, they are more likely to be criticized. For example, the special effects of Yin Jiao's Dharma image in "Fengshen 2" were not satisfactory, which greatly affected the reputation of the film.

In fact, watching movies during the Spring Festival has gradually become part of the Chinese people's social and entertainment life, and has even become a new folk custom after the Spring Festival Gala. The market value of the Spring Festival period mainly lies in taking advantage of the development of the holiday economy, attracting low-frequency viewers to the cinema, and expanding the audience group. Therefore, it is obvious that the film also needs to have multiple values such as social and cultural values. In addition to capital competition, Spring Festival films also carry multiple functions such as showing the style of the times, strengthening emotional cohesion, providing emotional value, and reflecting the culture of the times.

Stills from Boonie Bears: Restart the Future

From the perspective of the film producers, it should be said that there is no lack of sincere productions in this year's schedule. "Nezha 2", which ranks first in the box office during the schedule, is a sincere work by director Jiaozi who has been under tremendous pressure, constantly challenged technical difficulties during the five-year creation period, adjusted the script many times in the face of market changes, and adhered to his original intention. The animated film "Boonie Bears" series can continue to launch an animated feature film every year that is innovative and progressive in both plot and technology. The efforts behind it can be imagined. In terms of live-action movies, judging from the final presentation of each film with its own highlights, each production team has also made a lot of efforts. Precisely because the Spring Festival schedule is tantamount to a touchstone for the film, marketing is greatly affected by word of mouth, and films that perfunctory the audience and make hot money basically dare not come out. The film companies have sent production teams that have both market influence, rich experience and creative feelings. To a certain extent, the quality of the film is guaranteed.

Judging from the content, this year's Spring Festival file can be said to be full of emotions. The military action film "Operation Jiaolong" expresses our army's combat purpose of loving and maintaining peace, demonstrates national prestige, and expresses patriotic feelings. Comedy movies "Detective Chinatown 1900", fantasy movie "Fengshen 2", martial arts movie "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and other films with strong commercial and entertainment attributes, as well as the two animated films "Nezha 2" and "Boonie Bears: Restart the Future", all express the patriotic feelings of national rejuvenation, unity and progress, unity and protection of the homeland from different angles.

Stills from "The Second Part of Conferred Gods: War in Xiqi"

At the same time, these films also have a sense of youth and the times. Taking "Nezha 2" as an example, Nezha and Ao Bing's final self-acceptance not only began with the rebellion and struggle in the first film, but also was the active choice of the two after their subjectivity grew. The film not only highlights the growth process of the characters, but also captures and expresses the audience groups, especially young audiences, on social rules, power structure and other issues in a critical and reflective way. For example, the female characters in "Fengshen 2" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" are the heroic female general Deng Chanyu, who is independent, resolute, calm and confident, the arrogant but not savage, loving but not narrow-minded Princess Huazheng, who is brave and brave, and the ambitious and thoughtful Huang Rong, who cares about the world... These innovative female images also deeply fit the new generation of female audiences' expectations of independence, confidence, strength and wisdom.

Content is king, and it is the way to win

Although the six films released during the Spring Festival this year had impressive box office results, there were still many controversies surrounding the plots and contents. It has been proven that the expensive special effects and luxurious scenery cannot cover up the reputation crisis caused by the film's own plot loopholes. Content is king, and it is the key to whether a film can win in the fierce competition.

Stills from Operation Dragon

Operation Jiaolong, which had the lowest box office in the period, did not bring good reviews despite its advance screening and early publicity. The film's narrative time is set to a certain day in the future, and the lines use a lot of submarine professional terms. The submarine battle shots are single and present the style of science and education films. Tong Li, an outstanding character in Operation Red Sea, has become an embellishment, and the lack of emotional development in the literary drama has caused the film to be far from the audience's expectations. Although the Jiaolong team's several actions have excellent scene scheduling, the core of the narrative of military genre films is "why fight, who is the enemy, how to fight" and other issues. They are not fully developed throughout the film, which will eventually lead to obvious plot loopholes such as chaotic command, disorganized combat, luck in obtaining key information, and faith in solving life-and-death crises, as well as obvious drawbacks such as the flattening of the main characters, the instrumentalization of the secondary characters, and the blurred or even difficult to distinguish group images.

Stills from The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Greatest Hero

The main problem of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" also lies in the confusion of the main narrative and too many plot holes. It neither shows the chivalrous spirit of the knights in martial arts films who walk around the rivers and lakes to avenge their enemies and punish evil and promote good, nor does it clearly analyze the positions and tactics of the opposing sides in war films. The film originally wanted to use the war plot to expand the scope of the hero and heroine's chivalry, expressing that the knights who abandon personal grudges and selfish interests and care about the people are the greatest knights. Unfortunately, why Guo Jing, who grew up in the grassland, would rather die than identify himself as a Song Dynasty person, why Huang Rong followed Guo Jing to guard the border town besides love, whether the Mongolian Khan had other intentions to withdraw his troops, and what was the significance of Jing Rong's defense of the city to the overall situation of the three-party war between Jin, Mongolia and Song. None of the core issues were solved. The main and secondary characters lacked behavioral motivations, and the kung fu duel fighting design was game-like, which ultimately led to disappointment in the film.

Stills from "The Second Part of Conferred Gods: War in Xiqi"

The overall narrative of "Fengshen 2" is obviously weaker than the previous one, and the problem is still the motivation of the characters' behavior. The film wants to show Ji Fa's growth in battle, so it designs different stages such as guilt, confusion, and hesitation, and first suppresses him to pave the way for his growth as the common leader of the world in the third part. The problem is that after experiencing spiritual rebellion and physical assassination, Ji Fa, who has completed "patricide" and matured as a subject, will he repeatedly lose his motivation for fighting? Especially when he knew that his side had made huge sacrifices and was almost about to collapse, he was still hesitating whether to kill Master Wen, which is really hard to empathize with.

As the main character of the narrative, Ji Fa's vague character design and lack of spiritual charm are definitely the fatal flaws of the script. The audience's most desired spectacle of the battle between gods and demons, magic, magic weapons, and formations, was not satisfied. The four generals of the Demon Family and the many immortals and demons that will appear later, why the two sides belong to different camps, is also unclear. Such an incomplete plot, relying solely on the more outstanding female generals, obviously cannot reverse the decline in word-of-mouth.

Stills from Detective Chinatown 1900

"Tang Detective 1900" is already a top-notch film in the "Tang Detective" series, with no obvious plot shortcomings. As the only comedy film in the schedule, it is the most suitable for the schedule, but the film still has a lot of room for improvement. In addition to the lack of rigorous reasoning of the case, there are also problems such as the second half of the film disrupting the narrative rhythm in order to sublimate the theme, the comedy + reasoning in the first half and the emotional expression style in the second half, and the shortcomings that frequently appeared in the previous "Tang Detective" series, such as the foreign culture being reduced to a landscape symbol and the characters being flat, still exist.

Stills from Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King

The two animated films released during the Spring Festival both brought many surprises due to their complete plots and rich plot designs. Although "Nezha 2" has the problem of conspiracy theories about the object of resistance, its merits outweigh its flaws. It accurately grasps the emotional structure of the times and presents animations that are not inferior to the international first-line production standards. Whether it can surpass itself and come up with new ideas is the key to building the "Nezha Universe". The "Boonie Bears" animated feature film, which has already completed a round of zodiac years and is still performing well, needs to consider how to change the stereotype of the brand's childishness from the aspects of developing side character stories, broadening the types of derivatives, and trying to integrate film and games, so as to further attract audiences of all ages.

Interestingly, the 2025 Spring Festival schedule features high-value investments by all staff, the participation of many leading companies, and the various selling points of the films, as well as the appearance of many gods in "Nezha 2" and "Fengshen 2". The entire schedule can really be called a "fight between gods". The large-scale industrial films appear in the Spring Festival schedule. On the one hand, it reveals the capital's stable layout, and on the other hand, it also reflects the conservative creative mentality in the industry. Compared with small and medium-cost films with more content and aesthetic exploration, it seems that large investments, large IPs, and large schedules can guarantee the market returns of the films. However, the audience's choice once again proves that only sincere works that fit the times, soothe emotions, and participate in cultural construction can truly touch people's hearts and gain word-of-mouth and box office recognition.