China made the world’s biggest movie this year, and — in a sea change — it didn’t need America to do it

China’s domestic film industry now has the scale to produce global box-office leaders on its own — even as it flexes make-or-break power over the fate of Hollywood’s biggest movies

Published: Dec. 31, 2025 at 1:28 p.m. ET

For years, Hollywood executives have treated China as a tantalizing but unreliable prize: a massive audience that could supercharge a blockbuster’s global haul, yet one governed by opaque rules, shifting tastes and sudden political constraints. In 2025, that uneasy relationship entered a new phase.

Two of the world’s top-grossing films this year were sequels with something crucial in common: that both owed an extraordinary share of their box-office success to China.