Two Hollywood features have retained their release dates in China despite restrictions recently announced by authorities on the import of US film
Two Hollywood features have retained their release dates in China despite restrictions recently announced by authorities on the import of US films amid escalating tariff disputes.
Warner Bros Animation’s The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is set to open this Friday (April 18) and Marvel’s latest superhero film Thunderbolts* is scheduled for release on April 30, ahead of its May 2 release in the US, according to ticketing platform Maoyan.
Whether they will be the last US films to secure a theatrical release in China for the foreseeable future remains unclear as the escalating trade war is producing an adverse effect on US films. Last week, a spokesperson for the China Film Administration indicated the possibility of a curb on Hollywood imports when commenting on the tariff disputes.
A release date in China has not been officially announced for summer tentpole Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which will world premiere at Cannes before rolling out in the US on May 23. The previous instalment in the blockbuster franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, received an almost day-and-date opening in both countries in July 2023.
Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie, which led the box office over the Qing Ming holiday long weekend (April 4-6), is still playing in Chinese theatres. It had taken $20.6m (RMB148m) as of April 13, making it the highest grossing imported film of 2025 to date.
Box office post-‘Ne Zha 2’
This year’s box office in China had reached $3.48bn (RMB25bn) as of April 13. While this represented an enhance of 40.3% year-on-year, 60% of the total gross was generated by Jiaozi’s local animation Ne Zha 2, which led the box office for a consecutive 64 days after opening on January 29.
Ne Zha 2 was finally dethroned by local drama Mumu, directed by Sha Mo, when it opened on April 3. A Minecraft Movie opened the following day and led that weekend.
But it was veteran director Feng Xiaogang’s We Girls that became the first Chinese-language film to top the weekend chart from April 11-13 since Ne Zha 2 and became the first local film to pass RMB100m ($13.6m) among all post-Chinese New Year releases. Mumu also passed the same threshold by Sunday with a cumulative $14.6m (RMB105m).
The box office of We Girls and Mumu – both social dramas about the underprivileged – represents just a tiny fraction of Ne Zha 2, which still held well in third place over the weekend to reach $2.11bn (RMB15.2bn) – an unprecedented figure for a film in a single market.
While any release will struggle to match the phenomenal takings of Ne Zha 2, the outlook at the China box office remains lacklustre if We Girls, Mumu and A Minecraft Movie are the biggest films post-Chinese New Year and bigger hits are needed to revitalise the market in the year ahead.
A further Chinese title in last weekend’s top five was Leo Zhang’s action thriller Fox Hunt, which has a cumulative $6.3m (RMB45.7m) following its April 4 opening. It is backed by the Shanghai Film Group, with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Duan Yihong toplining the cast.
The majority of the film was shot in France, reportedly the biggest Chinese film ever shot in the country in terms of shooting days and crew size. Filming took place in pre-Covid 2019 and was originally set for release on January 8, 2021 but was delayed more than four years in the wake of the pandemic.
* Box office data from Artisan Gateway
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