At the TIFFCOM market of the Tokyo International Film Festival, “Chinese Cinema Blue Book 2025,” co-edited by Chen Xueguang of Peking University and Fan Zhizhong of Zhejiang University, was released, depicting Chinese cinema at the crossroads of crisis and rebirth.
According to the report, annual box office revenue in 2024 will be 42.5 billion yuan ($5.75 billion), down 22.6% from the previous year, and attendance will drop 28.6% despite the number of active screens being 91,000. Audiences are fragmented into short-form video, gaming, and streaming, and the average viewing age continues to rise. However, mid- and low-budget realist dramas, family-themed films, and comedies have helped maintain theatrical momentum.
The 2025 edition identifies several key trends. Family ethics dramas directed by women have reshaped mainstream storytelling through films like YOLO, Something Wonderful, and Like a Rolling Stone. Comedies accounted for 36% of box office revenue in 2024, led by titles like “Successor” and “Johnny Keep Walking.” Documentaries such as “Caught by the Tide,” “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,” and “Mr. Hu’s Garden” signaled a resurgence of cultural and social nonfiction. AI-driven production and the convergence of film and games have emerged as new growth engines, exemplified by Black Myth: Wukong and Ne Zha 2, which blend cinematic storytelling with interactive structures.
Blue Book concludes that while record box office sales such as “Ne Zha 2” indicate commercial potential, the future depends on financing diversification, balanced scale, and greater integration of AI and animation into industrialized production. Cheng finally asked whether China can maintain its box office peak, globalize its mythology, and ultimately build its own large-scale creative ecosystem, its own Disney.
During the Q&A session after the presentation, Mr. Chen referred to the industry’s financial instability, pointing out that risks are increasing rapidly due to budget increases, and spoke about the imbalance between investment and revenue. He urged studios to move toward sustainable “continuum operations” by diversifying revenue through licensing, merchandising and cultural tourism partnerships, while supporting a stable ecosystem of mid- and low-budget films.
