Imax Records Its Best Chinese New Year Box Office Return With $53M
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.
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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, underlining how Imax’s record-breaking takings for its theater network in China has a ways to run.
The first Nezha film became China’s biggest animated hit ever with $699.3 million performance in 2019.
“Chinese New Year unleashed one of the most impressive surges in moviegoing we’ve seen in recent years, anywhere in the world — leaving a slew of broken Imax records in its wake,” Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, said in a statement on Wednesday. “This is a shot of adrenaline for moviegoing in China that comes at just the right time, with a tentpole heavy slate of local language and Hollywood films ahead for 2025,” he added.
Imax and the Beijing film industry is likely hoping that the strong holiday numbers will draw a line under the sector’s dismal performance last year. Annual ticket revenue in the country plummeted 25 percent to $5.8 billion in 2024, prompting many in the local industry to publicly worry that the theatrical model could be in terminal decline.
During the latest Chinese New Year, Alibaba’s fantasy Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force delivered $7.6 million in box office on Imax screens, and Bona’s naval drama Operation Hadal added another $2.7 million in takings for the giant screen theater network in China.
Creation of The Gods II: Demon Force and Wanda Pictures’ comedy-mystery franchise installment Detective Chinatown 1900 were also released on Imax screens across 11 countries worldwide, bringing in over $1.2 million in ticket sales outside of China. Ne Zha 2 will be shown exclusively in Imax theaters in Australia and New Zealand, starting Feb. 6.
Imax China is a subsidiary of Toronto-based Imax and trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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