From an animation major in college to the concept artist behind central characters in Ne Zha — the phenomenal franchise that lifted Chinese filmmaking to unprecedented heights in the global box-office landscape — Shen Wei has witnessed firsthand the rapid expansion of the domestic film industry.

Despite the years that have passed, he still clearly remembers going with four friends to watch Kuiba, a pioneering mythology-inspired animated feature. As they arrived a few minutes late, Shen was shocked to find the screening canceled because the five of them were the only ticket buyers.

For a time, animated films — especially those ambitiously targeting a wider audience beyond just children — struggled to gain recognition. But the tide turned with the game-changing dark horse Monkey King: Hero Is Back. Chinese animated films began to boom, producing more hits such as White Snake and Chang'an, before the genre reached its peak with Ne Zha 2, a record-shattering hit, now the world's fifth highest-grossing film.

Propelled by domestic blockbusters from sci-fi franchise The Wandering Earth to the war epic trilogy The Volunteers, China is advancing toward its goal of becoming a "strong film power "by 2035, a target set in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, issued by the China Film Administration, the industry's top regulator.

The past five years have seen a construction boom that pushed China's total number of cinema screens past 100,000 — the most in the world.

Cutting-edge technologies have also advanced rapidly. Films shot in virtual-reality format — requiring audiences to wear digital headsets — have acquired screening permits from the China Film Administration for the first time, marking a transformative moment in cinema operations.

As of this month, the total box-office revenue since early 2021 has reached over 220 billion yuan ($30.9 billion), with domestic films accounting for around 80 percent of the total revenue, far surpassing the 55-percent goal set in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Creative pressures

With 2026 — the start of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period — approaching, filmmakers across the country are setting new goals while confronting rising challenges, from competition with short videos to the need for deeper integration of artificial intelligence.

The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China recently adopted the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development.

"The Recommendations provide a guiding vision for the high-quality development of Chinese cinema over the next five years. Realizing this blueprint will rely on the creativity of domestic filmmakers," said Zhang Ji, vice-chairman of the China Film Association, during a forum at the 2025 China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival.

"Right now, we are in a period of profound transformation. Audience tastes are evolving rapidly, and traditional models of filmmaking are being reshaped by new demands and technological advances," Zhang added.

AI is already being used in many aspects of filmmaking, including subtitle translation, script research, and enhancing visual effects. But crafting original stories remains an area where the technology still cannot compete, as its output ultimately depends on processing existing texts and images.

Shen, concept artist for Ne Zha 2 — which brought together more than 4,000 animators from 138 companies — notes that some directors now describe their ideas for characters or sets to both AI tools and human designers, and then compare the results. "So, what we need to do," Shen says, "is prove that we can paint and design better than robots."

Actress Wang Likun says that AI is reshaping the entire industry with startling speed. "For performers, we are not only facing competition but also grappling with questions about our own existence. Our new 'colleagues' (virtual actors) are not living humans. They never tire, never get sick, and can even perform actions far beyond human capability," she says.

"Additionally, actors can now be scanned and replicated as 'digital doubles', allowing certain work to be completed without us being physically present. This challenges how irreplaceable we truly are. But what AI cannot replace, I believe, is the improvisational creativity between actors, the unique on-set chemistry, our individual life experiences, and those seemingly imperfect yet profoundly authentic imprints of life we bring to a role."