A movie theater in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province Photo: VCG

China's 2025 summer box office exceeded 7 billion yuan ($972 million) Sunday night, with a single-day record of 375 million yuan set on Sunday, the highest single-day tally of this year's summer season, according to online ticketing platform Beacon. 

The strong performance comes amid a robust recovery for the country's film market, which saw the box office for the first half of the year reach 29.231 billion yuan, up 22.9 percent year-on-year, according to the China Film Administration. 

This marks the best first-half performance since 2020, with figures returning to peak levels seen in 2018 and 2019.

Film insiders said China's 2025 summer box office has been propelled by wartime film releases marking the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as domestic-made animated films with high word-of-mouth. 

According to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, Dead to Rights is leading the summer charts, grossing over 1.4 billion yuan since its July 25 release. 

The film, which earned an 8.6/10 high score on Chinese review platform Douban, draws its narrative from one of the darkest chapters in modern history, the Nanjing Massacre of 1937, and has sparked a heated discussion on Chinese social media about restoring the history of this period. 

Other patriotic titles set to hit screens in August include documentary Mountains and Rivers Bearing Witness and war film Dongji Rescue, which were inspired by real historical events and designed to showcase the resilience and spirit of the Chinese people during wartime.

Adding to the lineup, the China Film Administration announced on Sunday that highly anticipated war-themed drama 731 Biochemical Revelations will premiere on September 18.

Directed by Zhao Linshan and starring Jiang Wu, Wang Zhiwen and Li Naiwen, 731 Biochemical Revelations depicts the Japanese army's horrible germ warfare experiments and human trials in Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province during World War II. 

The film has already generated massive buzz, with over 3.85 million users adding it to their "want to watch" lists on Maoyan.

According to Chinese ticketing platform Beacon, this summer season features 128 scheduled films, including 45 dramas and 29 animated works. 

The varied offerings are fueling multiple viewings, with strong-performing blockbusters and the stable performance of animated films laying a solid foundation for the year's market.

According to Maoyan, there are five animated films in the top 10 highest-grossing films on Sunday. 

In addition, positive word-of-mouth has driven box-office growth, with The Legend of Hei 2 scoring an 8.7/10 on Douban, and Nobody boasting an 8.6/10 score.

Lai Li, a film data analyst at Maoyan, told the Global Times that this summer film season has seen a number of domestic-made animated films with both good reputation and box-office performance.

Curious Tales of a Temple, which was released on July 12, has currently grossed 234 million yuan as of Sunday afternoon. Maoyan predicts that its total domestic box office will exceed 300 million yuan.

The Legend of Hei 2, the sequel to the 2019 animated blockbuster that was released on July 18, has a current box office of 344 million yuan, with a predicted total domestic box office of nearly 500 million yuan.

Nobody, which premiered on Sunday, has grossed 119 million yuan as of Sunday.

"Following Ne Zha 2's breakthrough performance, this summer's quality animations showcase China's animation industry's thriving development," Lai said, adding that August's key releases are expected to bring further surprises. 

As a wave of domestic blockbusters are set to dominate August and September, Hollywood films face severely constrained market space in China.

According to Maoyan, currently, only two imported titles, F1:The Movie and Jurassic World: Rebirth, have exceeded the 100 million yuan mark, having grossed 394 million yuan and 555 million yuan respectively as of Sunday afternoon. While Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps only grossed a modest 38.92 million yuan since its release on July 25.