Photo: VCG

Several major Chinese movies have rescheduled their release dates as competition in the country's summer movie season continues to heat up.

The highly anticipated period comedy The Lychee Road, directed by and starring comedian Da Peng, has been moved up to this Friday. The same date has also been selected for veteran moviemaker Jiang Wen's comeback feature You Are the Best, marking his first movie since 2018's Hidden Man. Additionally, Dead to Rights directed by Shen Ao has shifted its release date to July 25.

According to Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the Central Academy of Culture and Tourism Administration, the adjustments of these movies reflect both the pressure of supply and the heightened expectations from within and beyond the industry after a disappointing 2024 summer season.

China's summer box-office season, which runs from June 1 to August 31, has been seen by industry observers as China's most important movie period, second only to the Spring Festival holiday.

"Mid-to-late July typically marks the height of the summer movie season, prompting moviemakers to adjust release dates in hopes of capitalizing on peak audience interest - a standard market practice that could directly boost overall box-office performance," Sun said. 

As of Monday, China's summer box office had grossed more than 3.245 billion yuan ($454 million). The total ticket sales in 2025 has surpassed 30.5 billion yuan - the highest year-to-date figure in the past five years, Lai Li, a data analyst from Maoyan, told the Global Times.

The Lychee Road, based on a novel by Ma Boyong, follows a Tang Dynasty (618-907) official tasked with the near-impossible mission of transporting fresh lychees - typically perishable within days - on a grueling 2,500-kilometer journey from Lingnan in southern China to the capital Chang'an. His desperate ingenuity in overcoming the logistical challenge becomes a sharp satire of bureaucratic absurdity. 

"The movie benefits from an existing fan base through its novel and TV adaptation, while also reflecting the realities of today's workplace to some extent," Zhang Peng, a movie researcher and associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times.

Inspired by pianist Lang Lang's early life, Jiang Wen's You Are the Best traces a young boy's journey to musical greatness with support from his determined family. The ensemble cast includes Jiang Wen, Ge You, Ma Li, Yu Hewei, Lei Jiayin and Donnie Yen.

Meanwhile, Dead to Rights, starring Liu Haoran, Wang Chuanjun and Gao Ye, uses a photo studio as a narrative lens to piece together fragmented memories of the Nanjing Massacre.

Animated movies are thriving in China's summer movie season, with nearly 20 domestic and international titles set for release, state broadcaster CCTV reported. 

The 2025's offerings span classic IPs and original stories, catering to various age groups. Many movies are also embracing outdoor screenings and themed events, combining movie with cultural tourism to create a richer viewing experience.

Highlights include Curious Tales of a Temple, which draws on five classic tales from writer Pu Songling's (1640-1715) Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, which stands as one of China's most influential story collections of ghosts, spirits and other supernatural creatures.

Still, Lai said the market has yet to reach its full summer potential. With roughly half of the summer movie season now over, overall audience enthusiasm remains relatively muted. As of Monday, summer box-office revenue is still trailing behind the same period in 2024, which saw 4.18 billion yuan in ticket sales. 

"The market needs more high-profile, large-scale releases to energize audience interest," Lai said. 

The upcoming movie market still features a number of highly anticipated domestic and international releases, spanning a wide range of genres and offering larger-scale productions yet to hit theaters.

These include The Lychee Road, You Are the Best, Dead to Rights, Dongji Island, 731, and The Fan-tastic Four: First Steps. Upcoming animated releases include The Legend of Hei 2, Nobody and The Bad Guys 2.

So far, imported titles have dominated the summer box office, taking up four out of the top five slots. Bringing back dinosaurs and picking up the story after the events of 2022's Jurassic World: Dominion, Jurassic World Rebirth sits at No.1. As of 6 pm on Monday, it had grossed a total of 460 million yuan at the box office in the Chinese mainland.

 The remaining four top earning movies, in descending order, are domestic film She's Got No Name, and foreign films Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Detective Conan the Movie: One-eyed Flashback and How to Train Your Dragon. 

"The upcoming movie slate remains promising, and there is hope that a surge in summer movie-going will arrive soon, bringing renewed momentum and fresh surprises to the industry," said Lai.