Chinese audiences pushed animation, action and historical war films to the top of 2025’s satisfaction charts, while comedies and romance all but disappeared from favor, according to new research unveiled at the 7th Hainan Island International Film Festival, China.
In a forum presentation at the festival, Sun Xianghui, president of the China Film Art Research Center, revealed that consumer satisfaction scores for those genres outdid others in the center’s 2025 survey, with films like the Nanjing massacre WWII epic “Dead to Rights”, and animation juggernaut “Ne Zha 2” leading in both satisfaction scores and box office returns.
Mirroring trends seen in Western markets, the study showed that Chinese audiences have largely abandoned comedies and romance films in 2025, with not a single romance film figuring in the top satisfaction scores of the survey.
China’s local film box office has netted $6.7 billion in the year to date, a figure significantly higher than 2024’s $5.8 billion total. Excluding December’s take, local films counted for some 83.8% of the box office.
“In 2025, global film production has entered a period of slow growth,” said Sun. “European production capacity is limited, and the traditional Hollywood growth model shows fatigue, with diminished appeal for blockbuster production and markets.”
The recent success of “Zootopia 2” at the Chinese box office, however, and the eagerly anticipated premiere of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” at the same festival, suggests this downbeat assessment to be a tad presumptuous.
As of writing, “Zootopia 2” has crossed $393 million at the Chinese box office.
The film has grossed more in China than at the domestic North American market ($187 million), a fact Sun was eager to highlight, but also suggests the continued intertwining of fates between Hollywood studios and Chinese audiences.
Separately, film officials were keen to promote international production in Hainan, pointing to its imminent designation as a Free Trade Port on Dec. 18 as a distinct selling point for producers.
Officials also dangled carrots in the form of living subsidies of up to RMB1 million ($141,000) for “leading talents,” and between RMB200,000- 500,000 RMB ($28,000 – $70,700) for “international talents”, as well as visa-free entry for personnel from 86 countries.
The new Free Trade Port status also promises zero tariffs for imported film production equipment, and income tax incentives for foreign “high-level talent,” while post houses and visual effects companies can, in principle, operate as wholly foreign-owned enterprises.
