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Zhu Yiran was aware there would be unique challenges ahead when he signed on to direct what’s being heralded as the first Chinese documentary to be shot in space.

Before and during the shoot for Shenzhou 13, Zhu and his team from the China Media Group Television Series and Documentary Center had to spend more than a month training three astronauts in the art of filmmaking. They also had to adapt 8K Uhd technology in order for their cameras to function in outer space, and then there were the daily snafus that only became apparent once shooting had started.

The film — which follows the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft’s mission into space from launch on October 15, 2021 to landing on April 15, 2022 — chronicles the daily tasks undertaken by astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, including space walks and maintenance onboard Tiangong space station, all shot by the astronauts themselves on cameras specially...

An unexpected movie has seemingly come out of nowhere to make history at the box office. "Seemingly" is doing a fair amount of work there because, for movie fans living in China, the animated sequel "Ne Zha 2" has become a cultural cinematic event like no other. Not just in China, mind you, but it's become bigger in some respects than any other movie in history. Yes, really.

Over the weekend, director Yu Yang's blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" added $250.6 million to its already staggering total, bringing its haul to $1.08 billion as of Monday morning. Keep in mind that the movie was only released on January 29, meaning it has done all of this in about two weeks. It has become the first movie ever to make more than $1 billion in a single country, and passed "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($936.6 million) to become the biggest movie ever in a single marketplace.

Worldwide box office: February 7-9 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 1. Ne Zha 2 (various) $250.6m $1.08bn $250.6m $1.08bn 1 2. Detective Chinatown 1900 (various) $36.7m $386.5m $36.3m $384.8m 9 3. Dog Man (Universal) $20.2m $66m $6.5m $11.9m 42 4. Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney) $12.4m $671.1m $8.5m $435.9m 53 5. Bonie Bears Future Reborn (various) $9.2m $86.6m $9.2m $86.6m 1 6. Heart Eyes (Sony) $8.5m $8.5m 1 7. Creation Of The Gods II: Demon Force (various) $8m $156.6m $8m $155.3m 11 8. Paddington In Peru (various) $7.5m $104m $7.5m $104m 53 9. Love Hurts (Universal) $6.8m $6.8m $1m $1m 32 10. Companion (Warner Bros) $6.7m $26.7m $3.7m $11.2m 66

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

There are more box office records for Imax coming out of the just-concluded Chinese New Year holiday with the company notching its biggest ever haul for the annual period. Grossing $53M, Imax exceeded its previous record of $34M, set in 2023, by a huge 57%.

Imax also delivered its highest attendance ever for the Chinese New Year, with 5.5M admissions nationwide, and its best market share ever during the lucrative frame, repping 4.3% of the box office on only 1% of screens.

When the holiday kicked off last week, Imax scored a Cny day-one record, and its biggest percentage of the first-day results ever.

As we reported earlier today, the Spring Festival, as the holiday is also known, set an overall box office record with Rmb 9.51B ($1.3B) from January 28-February 4. Animated sequel Ne Zha 2 led all play with Imax’s portion of the gross landing at $36M. The film also scored the...

Imax has posted a record high of $53 million in box office over China’s Lunar New Year period, with the animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 leading the way with $36 million in ticket sales on its giant screens.

Imax during the week to Feb. 4 rode the strength of China’s own New Year box office hitting a new record of $1.3 billion for the peak moviegoing period. Imax, with 5.5 million admissions to its theaters during the week, powered past its previous Chinese New Year box office record of $34 million set in 2023.

Enlight Pictures’ animated sequel Nezha 2, directed by Yu Yang, across China earned $434 million in takings over the Lunar New Year period and is on track to overtake the war film The Battle at Lake Changjin ($913 million) as China’s biggest blockbuster of all time. Ticketing app Maoyan has projected Nezha 2 to climb as high as $944 million in box office,...

China’s film market enjoyed a record-breaking Lunar New Year, amassing a staggering RMB9.51 billion ($1.31 billion) in total box office revenue over the seven-day holiday period ending Feb. 4, according to a new report from Maoyan Research Institute. With 187 million tickets sold, the lucrative holiday window set an all-time high for the period.

The number easily surpassed the 2024 record of $1.09 billion.

Imax also saw its most successful Lunar New Year yet, generating $53 million in box office receipts – an increase of 57% over its previous record of $34 million in 2023. The premium format exhibitor logged its highest-ever holiday attendance, with 5.5 million moviegoers flocking to Imax screens.

Leading the charge was Enlight Media’s “Ne Zha 2,” which dominated the competition with a formidable $665.7 million to become the highest-grossing Lunar New Year title in history. The sequel to 2019’s runaway animated hit also notched a massive $36 million in Imax, securing the biggest opening weekend ever...

The Chinese film industry celebrated an extraordinary Lunar New Year with the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” leading a record-breaking box office performance. The film generated an impressive Rmb 9.51 billion ($1.3 billion) between January 28 and February 4, marking a significant turnaround for the country’s entertainment sector.

“Ne Zha 2” emerged as the clear winner, earning Rmb 4.84 billion ($665.7 million) in its first week alone. The animated sequel has already claimed the title of highest-grossing animated film in a single market, outperforming Disney-Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” despite lower average ticket prices.

The film is on track to make global box office history. If it reaches its projected final gross of Rmb 8.7 billion ($1.2 billion), it will become the first film to cross the $1 billion mark in a single market, potentially surpassing the North American record set by “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.”

Directed by Yu Yang and based on the...

Ushering in the Year of the Snake, China’s Spring Festival 2025 has set a new record for box office during the annual holiday period. Total Mainland grosses reached Rmb 9.51B ($1.3B) from January 28-February 4. This outstrips the previous record of Rmb 8.02B.

The new milestone was expected once Chinese New Year turnstiles kicked into gear in earnest on January 29, with the biggest gross for a single day in China at Rmb 1.8B ($247.5M) across all titles. Momentum did not falter over the following week, with each day through yesterday clocking more than Rmb 1B ($137.5M).

The total number of tickets sold during the frame (also referred to as Spring Festival and Lunar New Year) was a record 187M, according to Maoyan.

Notably and massively leading play is Ne Zha 2 which grossed Rmb 4.84B ($665.6M) through yesterday. This is...

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It's still pretty early into 2025, but January is in the books and we have at least a few new movies out in the world. All things considered, it was a pretty quiet month at the box office, with movies like "Wolf Man" falling short of expectations. That's in North America though. Elsewhere in the world, namely China, theaters are overflowing with patrons who are eager to see what wonders await them in the cinema. In particular, an animated sequel now stands as by far the biggest movie of the year overall -- and it's not even remotely close.

"Ne Zha 2," the sequel to 2019's blockbuster "Ne Zha," debuted this past weekend in China. To say that it had a big opening would be a dramatic understatement. Over the Lunar New Year holiday in the country, the animated film opened...

In Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, the story unfolds as an epic mythic tale that intertwines political complexity, supernatural elements, and a struggle for power. The conflict between King Yin Shou and Ji Fa propels the film, with both sides competing for the Fengshen Bang scroll, a mystical object that could shift the balance of destiny.

This struggle explores themes of vengeance, authority, and fate, creating a compelling narrative against a backdrop of societal turmoil. The film distinguishes itself by blending personal drama—Ji Fa’s internal conflicts and his connection with Deng Chanyu—with grand mythological storytelling.

The plot navigates its intricate narrative without overwhelming viewers. The film skillfully uses visual storytelling and concise dialogue to manage its complex character dynamics. Director Wuershan crafts an approach that makes the story accessible, even for audiences unfamiliar with the first film.

The pacing strikes a careful balance, maintaining tension...

Worldwide box office: January 31-February 2 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Ne Zha 2(various) $283.6m $416.3m $283.6m $416.3m 1 2. Detective Chinatown1900(various)

$129.4m $247.4m $128.7m $246.3m 8 3. Creation Of The Gods II: Demon Force(various) $42.9m $125.1m $41.6m $123.8m 10 4. Dog Man(Universal) $40.2m $40.6m $4.2m $4.6m 31 5. Boonie Bears Future Reborn(various) $25.6m $56.5m $25.6m $56.5m 1 6. Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants(various) $21m $74.6m $21m $74.6m 3 7. Mufasa: The Lion King(Disney) $17.8m $653m $11.7m $423.5m 53 8. Companion(Warner Bros) $15m $15m $5.5m $5.5m 61 9. Operation Handal(various) $13m $35.4m $13m $35.4m 1 10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3...

China began ushering in the Year of the Snake last Wednesday, as local audiences sank their teeth into a host of new films with record-breaking gusto. The trend continued throughout the weekend with grosses for all films in release (including holdovers) reaching Rmb 7B ($965.4M) from Wednesday-Sunday, according to Maoyan. The Chinese New Year holiday was extended this year and runs through February 4, meaning it’s possible that 2025 becomes the biggest Lunar New Year period ever at the local box office.

This has also been a record-breaking few days for Imax which saw five of the new Chinese films released in the format adding up to $38.1M through Sunday in China. That’s already the biggest Cny ever for Imax, besting 2023’s $34M, and with two days left in the stretch.

Overall, as we noted on Wednesday, Enlight’s animated fantasy adventure sequel Ne Zha 2 from director Yu Yang...

Oscar-nominated No Other Land scored among highest per screen openings for a documentary in the last year, grossing an estimated $26.1k on one screen at the Film Forum in New York City.

With the Academy Awards a month away, much-nominated A Complete Unknown and The Brutalist are holding in the top ten. All We Imagine As Light by Indian director Payal Kapadia and I’m Still Here by Brazil’s Walter Salles crossed the $1 million mark.

It’s a quiet period for indie openings.

New this weekend: No Other Land by a collective of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers and activists chronicles the Israeli military’s incremental expulsion of the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta — home to 20 ancient Palestinian villages. It has swept most major prizes since premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, where it Won Best Documentary and the Audience Award. Producers are self-distributing with Cinetic and mTuckman Media, opening...

Chinese New Year box office started with a bang today in China, as Maoyan estimates 1.8B yuan ($248.3M) was generated for all films on day-one of the holiday period. This would mark a new milestone that well exceeds 2021’s previous first-day New Year record of 1.69M yuan.

For its part, Imax topped itself on Wednesday, seeing a Cny day-one record-breaking haul of $12M, besting its previous high of $11M in 2021. With 5% of the Cny box office so far, and on less than 1% of total screens, Imax captured its biggest percentage of the first-day results ever. Attendance for Imax was also at a new peak with 1.2M admissions nationwide.

The No. 1 title ushering in the Year of the Snake on Wednesday was Enlight’s Ne Zha 2, the follow up to 2019’s animated hit, with 486.6M yuan ($67.1M). In Imax, it grossed $2.5M.

Behind Ne Zha 2 at No. 2 for the day is...