Chinese film industry's new orientation

Editor's note: Liu Chunsheng, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is an associate professor at the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Data released by China Film Administration shows China's film box office in 2025 totaled 51.8 billion yuan ($7.4 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.95 percent. 

At the historical juncture of the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chinese cinema, this box office figure is by no means a simple market expansion, but the inevitable result of multi-dimensional innovations in content, technology, ecology, and international communication. It also marks a new orientation for high-quality development of Chinese cinema.

The humanistic content is the core code for Chinese films to win the market. The essence of films is storytelling, and a good story carries universal humanistic thinking and profound cultural heritage.

The 2025 film "Nanjing Photo Studio" (also translated as "Dead To Rights"), based on the Japanese invasion of the city of Nanjing in east China, takes a photo studio as its starting point, connecting the fates of individuals with the fates of families and the nation as well as the quest for justice through the delicate narrative of ordinary people preserving evidence of Japanese military atrocities. Though the narrative is restrained, it attained widespread emotional resonance, grossing over 3 billion yuan ($428 million) at the box office and achieving success overseas as well.

"Little Monsters of Langlang Mountain" reconstructed the imagery of the Chinese classic “Journey to the West” in ink wash style, making audiences of all ages find emotional sustenance and topping the box office chart of 2D animations in Chinese film history.

From the interpretation of the heroic spirit in "Volunteers: Bloody Peace" to the delicate portrayal of ordinary people's sense of responsibility in "The Lychees Road," domestic films are exploring human nature, history, and life, building an emotional bond with audiences. This concept of creatively transforming the excellent traditional Chinese culture has not only laid a solid foundation for the content, but also formed a unique cultural competitiveness.

The hard power of technological innovation has also injected strong momentum. In-depth integration of new-quality productive forces is reshaping the entire chain of film production.

The past year is being called the "first year of the explosion of Chinese film technology," with the success of "Ne Zha 2" being a typical example. This animated action film, which saw more than 4,000 people work on production, constructed mythological scenes through 3D scanning modeling and physically based rendering, a high-tech computer graphics technology, reaching the ranks of the top five films in global film history.

Besides its global box office earnings of 15.9 billion yuan ($2.27 billion), its derivative sales have further demonstrated the commercial potential of "technology + content."

"Future film studios" and the wide application of technologies such as virtual shooting, AI generation, and cloud computing have made high-concept films "achievable" from "unthinkable." The in-depth integration of technology and art has not only improved production efficiency and visual experience, but also promoted the transformation of China's film industry system from single-point breakthrough to full-chain maturity, laying a solid foundation for its high-quality development.

The open pattern of ecological innovation has broadened the value boundary of the film industry. Chinese films are breaking the shackles of "single box office economy" and building a diversified industrial ecology of "film+".

In terms of consumption expansion, activities such as "traveling with films" and "tasting food with films" are flourishing. Films such as "Detective Chinatown 1900" and "Nanjing Photo Studio" have driven cultural and tourism consumption, and relative location have become new urban cultural landmarks.

This open and collaborative ecological pattern has not only improved the industry's ability to resist risks, but also enabled it to be deeply integrated into the national economic system, releasing greater economic and social value.

International communication has taken Chinese stories to a broader stage with the accelerated pace of Chinese films "going global." In 2025, the overseas box office of Chinese films exceeded $170 million, Chinese film festivals and exhibitions entered 46 countries and regions, and the signing of cooperation documents with Russia, Spain and other countries expanded the international "circle of friends."

Chinese films are also forging a more universal international language: "Ne Zha 2" has won praise in the global market with its Oriental myth core and world-class visual effects; "Nanjing Photo Studio" makes overseas audiences understand the human side of history through the narrative of individual fates.

This creative strategy of "rooting in the local and looking at the global" adheres to domestic cultural roots while finding common ground among different civilizations.

More importantly, Chinese films are no longer a one-way cultural output, but have built a bridge for two-way communication through joint exhibition platforms and international co-productions, making light and shadow an important carrier of cultural exchanges and mutual learning.

The high-quality development of China's film industry needs to continue to delve into Chinese stories and innovate expressions with cultural confidence. The industry needs to improve its technology empowerment, lower the threshold for technology application, and benefit more creators; it also needs to strive to make the global film industry more open and inclusive.

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