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| China’s 2025 May Day Film Market May Miss 1.5 Billion Yuan Target - Sohu/Weibo |
China’s May Day holiday film season is normally a reliable goldmine for cinemas — think packed theatres, hyped premieres, and a couple of monster box office hits carrying the load.
But this year? Things are looking... wobbly.
Despite a whopping 13 films lined up for release, early ticket sales suggest that audiences just aren’t biting.
As of 24 April — a full eight days into presales — the total advance box office has barely nudged past the 10 million yuan mark. And with just under a week to go until the holiday starts, that number isn’t exactly racing upwards.
Leading the pack right now is The Dumpling Queen (《水饺皇后》), a domestic drama directed by Liu Weiqiang and starring comedy queen Ma Li. It’s earned a presale total of around 4 million yuan so far — not bad, but hardly blockbuster numbers.
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Close behind are A Gilded Game (《猎金·游戏》), a slick-looking financial crime thriller starring Andy Lau and Ni Ni, and The Open Door (《人生开门红》), a light-hearted comedy. But none of these seem to have the firepower of previous years' heavy hitters.
The second tier of films, like western crime drama Trapped (《大风杀》), artsy romance I Grass, I Love (《苍茫的天涯是我的爱》), and the sweet-sounding family flick The One (《独一无二》), are floating somewhere between 100,000 to 1 million yuan in presale totals — modest, to put it kindly.
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Meanwhile, some bigger titles — including action flick Thunderbolts* (《雷霆特工队》) and Studio Ghibli’s re-release of Princess Mononoke — haven’t even started selling tickets yet. That might change the game... or it might be too little, too late.
So what’s going wrong?
Well, industry watchers say this year's May Day line-up is heavy on quantity, light on star power.
For context: last year’s holiday haul pulled in over 15 billion yuan, with films like Peacekeeping Riot Squad and Lost in the Money raking in 4 billion each.
Even back in 2019, Avengers: Endgame alone brought in 12 billion yuan. This year? There’s no obvious anchor hit.
Another oddity: film popularity seems to depend on which ticketing platform you're looking at.
On Maoyan, Dumpling Queen has the most “want to watch” tags. Over on Tao Piaopiao, it’s Vast Ends of the Earth leading the charge — which just so happens to be a Tao Piaopiao-distributed film.
Hmm. As critics are quick to point out, when platforms are both judge and contestant, it's hard to trust the scoreboard.
What does this mean for the May Day box office?
Unless one of the smaller or late-launching films pulls a surprise — or one of the imported films lights up audiences — it’s possible the five-day holiday won’t hit that golden 1.5 billion yuan target that’s become the industry standard.
Right now, Dumpling Queen leads, but even its “want to watch” count on Maoyan (about 174,000) pales compared to past champions like Peacekeeping Riot Squad (620,000) or even 2021's My Love (over 1.6 million).
It’s currently the best of the bunch, but that says more about the bunch than the best.
Bottom line? It’s not that there are no films — it’s just that there’s not enough hype. The buzz is low, and unless a breakout hit emerges, this May Day might end up more muted than merry.
Keep your popcorn close, but your expectations closer.