China's 2025 Lunar New Year film season witnessed fierce competition between many films with large investments in content and form.
According to Sina, total pre-sale box office revenue as of 5 p.m. on January 22 (China time) has exceeded 350 million yuan (about more than 1,203 billion VND).
Leading the pre-order revenue chart are three blockbusters: "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Na Tra 2: The Great Rebellion" and "Detective Chinatown 1900".
Impressive record of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"
Directed by Tsui Hark, starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dat Fei, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" created a fever right from the start of ticket sales.
According to data from Beacon Professional Edition, the film achieved pre-sales revenue of 10 million yuan (about 34.3 billion VND) in just 45 minutes, 20 million yuan (about 68.7 billion VND) in 1 hour and 32 minutes, and 30 million yuan (about 103.1 billion VND) in 2 hours and 37 minutes.
By 9:59 a.m. on January 20, pre-sales revenue had reached 100 million yuan (about 343.9 billion VND), becoming the fastest film to reach this revenue milestone in Chinese cinema history.
As of January 22, the film's total pre-sales revenue exceeded 150 million yuan (about 515 billion VND), setting a box office record for the 2025 Lunar New Year.
According to Sina, the box office success of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is largely due to the appeal of male lead Xiao Zhan and director Tsui Hark.
On social media platforms, Xiao Zhan's fan community actively promoted the film with millions of interactions. Many idol groups even went directly to cinemas to request an increase in the number of prime-time screenings.
Challenges on the box office track
Despite leading in pre-sales, the screening rate for "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is still quite low, reaching only 17.2%, lower than "Na Tra 2: The Great Rebellion" (23.4%), "Detective Chinatown 1900" (22.3%) and "Feng Shen 2" (20.8%).
According to Sina, theaters tend to take a cautious approach, prioritizing more popular genres such as animation and comedy and films aimed at a broad public audience.
Many Xiao Zhan fans were unhappy to see the film being placed in early morning or midnight slots, reducing its chances of reaching a general audience.
Besides, the fact that the average ticket price of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is higher than other films also creates a lot of controversy.
However, film distributors said that when the film is officially released, if it receives positive reviews from general audiences, the screening schedule will be flexibly adjusted to meet the audience's movie-watching needs.
