This year, domestic new films released during the Qingming Festival collectively focused on disadvantaged groups. Although they achieved breakthroughs in subject matter, their box office performance was mediocre. The audience's demand for watching movies during holidays may require content providers to dig deeper into more attractive content to truly release it.
According to the data from Lighthouse Professional Edition, the 2025 Qingming Festival (April 4-April 6) ended with a total box office of 378 million yuan, more than 9.28 million moviegoers, and 1.413 million screenings. Although there were as many as 16 films released during the period, covering a variety of genres such as reality, suspense, animation, and crime, the overall performance of new films was weak, and the top films failed to boost market popularity. Compared with the box office of 842 million yuan in the same period last year, "How Do You Want to Live" and "Godzilla vs. Kong 2" both made efforts, this year's Qingming Festival box office fell off a cliff, making this movie spring still a bit chilly.
Data source of the 2025 Qingming box office list: Lighthouse Professional Edition
In terms of film box office rankings, the action fantasy film "Minecraft: The Movie", adapted from a world-renowned game IP, took the top spot with a box office of over 100 million yuan during its period. The crime drama "Sunny Flowers", directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Zhao Liying, took over 80 million yuan during its period, ranking second.
It is worth mentioning that "Nezha: The Devil Child Conquers the Dragon King", which has been released for 68 days, still held its own during the Qingming Festival when many new films gathered. With a stable output of over 72 million yuan, it successfully ranked among the top three box office during the Qingming Festival.
The drama film "Love Without Words" directed by Sha Mo and starring Zhang Yixing failed to maintain its leading position in the pre-sale stage, and the cumulative box office has exceeded 68 million, ranking fourth. The fifth-place "Fox Hunting Operation" is a type of new film with a strong commercial appeal. Although it has two "movie kings" Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Duan Yihong as the leading actors, the box office was not satisfactory, earning 24 million.
It is an indisputable fact that if the impact of the 2022 epidemic and the special schedule of only one day in 2023 are excluded, the box office of this year's Qingming Festival hit a 10-year low. This year's Qingming Festival domestic new films collectively focus on vulnerable groups, such as "Sunny Flowers" focusing on prisoners released after serving their sentences and deaf families, "Silent Love" with deaf people as the protagonists, and "Sunshine Shining on Youth" presenting the survival dilemma of mental patients. Although these films have achieved breakthroughs in subject matter, their box office performance is mediocre. The audience's demand for watching movies during holidays may require content providers to dig deeper into more attractive content to be truly released.
"Minecraft Movie" won the box office champion during the Qingming Festival, and it was also the only movie during the Qingming Festival with a box office of over 100 million yuan.
Minecraft, adapted from the world-renowned game IP, topped the box office with 105 million yuan, marking the fourth consecutive year that imported films have topped the Qingming Festival box office. Among domestic films, the crime drama Sunny Flowers directed by Feng Xiaogang and Silent Love directed by Sha Mo were supported by popular stars, but the subject matter itself was heavy and the topic failed to break the circle, so the market performance was mediocre.
The Spring Festival hit "Nezha: The Devil Child Conquers the Dragon King" has now amassed a global cumulative box office of over 15.1 billion yuan. Although its screening share is only 12.7%, it has strong viewing stickiness and is still the choice of many viewers. The long-tail effect of the film also provides important support for the off-season market.
"Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" has a box office of over 15.1 billion during the Qingming Festival
Although the box office data is not encouraging, the Qingming Festival still reveals the changes that are taking place in the Chinese film market. According to the backstage data of Lighthouse, compared with previous years, the overall proportion of female audiences and audiences over 35 years old has increased during this year's Qingming Festival; it is also loved by young audiences; the proportion of group watching of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" and "Minecraft: The Movie" is as high as 22.8% and 14.6% respectively, which is much higher than the films released in other periods, and has become the choice of most family audiences to watch together during the Qingming Festival; in addition, the Japanese animation "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Battle of Across Time" has a large proportion of audiences in East China and young males, and "Fox Hunting Operation" has a large proportion of audiences in South China and older people.
The highest-grossing domestic film during the Qingming Festival is "Sunny Flowers"
The quietness of the Qingming Festival in 2025 has exposed the market's over-reliance on top films and the audience's urgent need for high-quality content. After the Qingming Festival, many imported films will be released in domestic theaters, but it is undeniable that the weekends in April are still lacking in blockbuster support. In the upcoming May Day holiday, 8 films have been scheduled, including "The Dumpling Queen" starring Ma Li and "Hunting Gold Game" starring Andy Lau, covering comedy, crime, and animation. The market expects to rekindle the audience's enthusiasm through diverse themes and star effects.
