In the first half of 2025, the deep losses in the Chinese film industry have further deteriorated, with many leading companies showing a sharp decline in their financial performance. Companies like China Film, Bona Film Group, Huayi Brothers, and others have all reported significant net losses in the range of hundreds of millions of yuan. State-owned companies, in particular, are facing alarming losses. Industry experts have issued warnings, stating that the depletion of external funds has become a deadly threat to the survival of the industry, with the total annual industry-wide losses estimated to exceed billions of yuan.
As a representative of the national team in the film industry, China Film Industry Group Co., Ltd. (“China Film”) suffered a severe blow in the first half of 2025. This state-owned flagship enterprise under the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China recorded operating income of 1.717 billion yuan, a staggering 19.13% year-on-year decrease. The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company plunged to a loss of 110 million yuan, a dramatic reversal from the profit of 203 million yuan in the same period last year, marking a striking shift from profit to loss.
China Film admitted in its interim report that the significant drop in revenue was mainly due to the poor performance of imported films at the box office compared to the same period last year, coupled with severe underperformance of the company’s major funded and controlled films in the market. More critically, the net cash flow generated from operating activities during the reporting period resulted in a loss of 542 million yuan, a drastic 6538.61% decline compared to the same period last year, indicating a sharp deterioration in its cash flow situation.
Meanwhile, other state-backed film production companies are also facing a survival crisis. Beijing Baona Qiancheng Film and Television Co., Ltd. (“Bona Qiancheng”), a controlling enterprise once part of the Huayi Brothers Group, saw its revenue in the first half of 2025 plummet by 46.43% to 136.3 million yuan, with a net loss reaching 19.68 million yuan.
Bona Qiancheng has been continuously mired in losses in recent years, with losses totaling 186 million yuan in 2023 and a staggering 393 million yuan in net losses in 2024, demonstrating a trend of deteriorating financial performance.
Culturally Media Group, a mixed-ownership listed company dominated by state-owned assets, saw a significant increase in revenue to 189.7 million yuan in the first half of 2025, but still reported a net loss of 23.08 million yuan, indicating continued concerns about its profitability.
The company has seen consistently poor performance in recent years, with non-GAAP net losses of 367 million yuan in 2020, 235 million yuan in 2021, and a meager profit of 4.189 million yuan in 2022.
The survival of private Chinese film companies is equally precarious. Bona Film Group reported a staggering non-GAAP net loss of 1.091 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, a remarkable 637.75% increase year-on-year, setting a new record for interim losses, even surpassing the total loss of 973 million yuan last year.
This company, known for producing officially recognized “main theme” films like “Operation Mekong” and “Operation Red Sea,” has seen lackluster box office performances from recent works such as “Sky Hunter,” “Nameless,” “Point of Explosion,” and “Legend,” failing to replicate past successes.
Since its listing on the A-share market in 2022, Bona Film Group’s performance has rapidly deteriorated, with non-GAAP net losses of 197 million yuan in 2022, 743 million yuan in 2023, and 973 million yuan in 2024, with losses expanding year by year.
Huayi Brothers’ financial situation is even more dire. During the reporting period, the company’s operating income was approximately 153 million yuan, a drastic 50.37% drop from the same period last year, and a net loss of approximately 74.4368 million yuan, a significant deterioration of 401.15%.
From 2018 to 2023, Huayi Brothers has been deeply immersed in continuous losses, accumulating a massive loss of 7.843 billion yuan, with an unrecovered loss of 4.1 billion yuan as of the end of 2023, indicating a heavy financial burden.
Beijing Jingsi Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd. (“Jingsi Cultural”) has also recorded a shockingly large loss. In the first half of 2025, the company’s net profit attributable to shareholders fell to a loss of 233 million yuan, a staggering 610.29% increase in losses compared to the same period last year.
Since 2019, Jingsi Cultural has reported losses for six consecutive years, with total losses amounting to 3.7 billion yuan. This stark contrast to the company’s glorious period of blockbuster films like “Operation Red Sea,” “Hi, Mom,” and “The Wandering Earth” further highlights the severity of the situation.
The industry’s statistics provide a direct insight into the severity of the problem. According to authoritative statistics released in September 2024, financial reports for the first half of the year from 17 A-share and 4 Hong Kong-listed film and television related companies showed that more than half of the companies experienced a significant decline in performance. Only 4 out of the 17 A-share listed companies achieved positive revenue growth.
Data shows that among over 20 major industry participants, only a few companies like Shanghai Film and Huanyu Century managed to turn profits in the first half of 2024, with Shanghai Film seeing a 22.18% year-on-year decline in net profit in the first half of 2025, while Huanyu Century reported a loss of 6.3938 million yuan.
Sustained performance pressure has directly shaken shareholder confidence. Many shareholders of Bona Film Group have initiated a “reduction wave,” with CITIC Securities Investment Co., Ltd. and its concerted action parties, as well as Tibet Hemo Investment Management Partnership Enterprise, all selling off shares. Beijing Culture’s second-largest shareholder, Qingdao Haifa Industrial Investment Holding Co., Ltd., also plans to reduce its stake by no more than 3%, signaling a noticeable lack of confidence in the capital market.
Faced with the dire situation in the industry, industry experts have issued even more worrying warnings. Wang Changtian, Chairman of Enlight Media, made a startling statement at the opening forum of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival: “The overall industry losses generated by the film industry each year may reach hundreds of billions, even one or two hundred billion, and for at least the past 10 years, the entire industry has been in a loss-making state, under such circumstances, social capital investment will definitely be interrupted.”
Wang Changtian further highlighted the severity of the industry’s financial chain crisis, pointing out that many films, including some major productions, were experiencing fund chain breaks during the filming process, requiring them to seek new financing. This phenomenon may become more widespread and severe.
Li Jie, CEO of Damai Entertainment, emphasized the decisive significance of external funds for the industry’s survival: “All the funds in our industry circulate within our market, without a large amount of external funds entering the film industry. It can be said that several film companies are making movies with their own money, settling accounts, and then continuing to invest in movies.”
With 60% to 70% of projects in the Chinese film market currently at risk of losses, the industry’s net capital consumption rate is decreasing by 10% to 20% annually. Li Jie believes that without a large number of viewers as effective support, the financial strength and investment confidence of investors will continue to be severely impacted, making it increasingly difficult for external funds to enter the industry.
From the semi-annual reports released by major film companies, it is clear that the Chinese film industry is facing an unprecedented survival crisis in the first half of 2025. Whether it is state-owned companies like China Film, Bona Qiancheng, and Culturally Media, or private enterprises like Bona Film Group, Huayi Brothers, and Beijing Culture, all have suffered significant blows to their financial performance in the first half of 2025.