According to data from online platforms, as of Tuesday noon, the total box office revenue of films released during the 2025 National Day holiday, including presales, had exceeded 1.6 billion yuan (approximately 225 million U.S. dollars).
The eight-day holiday, which began on October 1, is traditionally a peak season for moviegoing in China, marked by strong audience turnout and intense competition among cinemas.
Topping this year’s National Day box office is the domestic war epic “The Volunteers: Peace at Last,” the final installment in director Chen Kaige’s “The Volunteers” trilogy. The film recreates both the battlefield struggles and the tense diplomatic negotiations during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950–1953).
In second place is “Evil Unbound,” a domestic production that depicts the atrocities committed by Japan’s Unit 731 during World War II. The film follows the tragic fate of innocent prisoners subjected to inhumane experiments such as frostbite, poison gas, and live dissections.
Ranking third is “A Writer’s Odyssey II,” the sequel to the 2021 fantasy-action hit. The film tells the story of a novelist’s attempt to resolve a dual crisis unfolding in both the real world and the fictional universe of his creation.
So far this year, more than 300 films have been released across China, covering a wide range of genres including history, comedy, animation, and drama.