Key Points
- The Boonie Bears franchise has dominated China’s Spring Festival box office for 12 years, with total box office revenue approaching ¥10 billion RMB ($1.39 billion USD).
- Fantawild (Huaqiang Fangte 华强方特) employs a “safe option” strategy, positioning Boonie Bears films as a reliable choice for multi-generational family viewing, consistently achieving a multi-person viewing ratio exceeding 20%.
- The movies primarily serve to maintain IP awareness and drive traffic to Fantawild’s theme parks, which generated nearly 90% of the company’s revenue (¥2.68 billion RMB) in the first half of 2025.
- Fantawild, led by Liang Guangwei (梁光伟), is a major global player in theme parks, ranking second worldwide in attendance, behind only Disney (Disini 迪士尼), and boasts a strong technical infrastructure including over 2,000 IPs and proprietary VR/AI technologies.
- Despite the success of Boonie Bears, the company faces a “succession problem”, lacking another breakout IP, though its extensive technical capabilities and 40+ theme parks provide a strong foundation for future IP development.
Two animated bears have done something remarkable in China’s entertainment industry.
They’ve dominated the Spring Festival movie season for over a decade, turning what started as a single film into a cultural phenomenon that’s reshaping how we think about franchise building in Asia.
Here’s what’s happening right now.
A Franchise That Prints Money Every Single Year
Boonie Bears: Every Year with Bears (Xiong Chumo · Niannian You Xiong 熊出没·年年有熊) just dropped in early 2026, and the numbers are already wild.
Just two days after its release, the film had already raked in ¥300 million RMB ($41.7 million USD) in box office revenue.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
According to Maoyan Entertainment (Maoyan Yule 猫眼娱乐) professional predictions, the final box office is projected to exceed ¥1.2 billion RMB ($166.7 million USD).
That’s not a typo—a single animated film hitting the $166 million mark in one market.
Boonie Bears is an original animated IP from Fantawild (Huaqiang Fangte 华强方特), a Shenzhen-based entertainment company that’s been executing one of the most consistent franchise strategies in modern cinema.
Here’s the pattern they’ve established:
- Since 2014: One new film released every single year on the first day of the Lunar New Year
- First film (2014): Boonie Bears: To the Rescue (Duobao Xiongbing 夺宝熊兵) earned ¥247 million RMB ($34.3 million USD)
- Most recent (2025): Boonie Bears: Time Twist (Chongqi Weilai 重启未来) garnered ¥821 million RMB ($114.1 million USD)
- Previous 11 films combined: ¥8.54 billion RMB ($1.19 billion USD)
- Series total (including current film): Approaching ¥10 billion RMB ($1.39 billion USD)
Let that sink in for a second.
One franchise, one country, one annual release window—and they’re approaching a $1.4 billion lifetime box office haul.
Why Parents Keep Buying Tickets: Understanding the “Safe Option” Strategy
This isn’t luck, and it’s not magic.
What Fantawild has built is something marketers call a “low-decision” product.
Lai Li, an analyst at Maoyan Entertainment (Maoyan Yule 猫眼娱乐), explains it like this:
“During the Spring Festival peak, animated films are a scarce resource. Boonie Bears, which focuses on parent-child family fun while incorporating comedy, naturally has immense market space.”
The real insight here is the data around “multi-person viewing” ratios.
For Boonie Bears, this metric—essentially measuring how many people go to watch together as a family group—consistently exceeds 20%.
That’s far above the market average.
Why does this matter?
Because when you show up to a Chinese cinema during Spring Festival (the biggest moviegoing period in the country), you’re not just watching with one other person.
You’re showing up with three-generation family groups.
Grandparents, parents, kids—all in the same theater.
For parents making the decision about what to watch, Boonie Bears has become the “zero cognitive cost, zero decision-making risk” option.
It’s trusted.
It’s predictable.
It’s safe.
Market trust built over 12 years has secured stable screening slots.
On the first day of the New Year, the film currently holds an 11.1% screening rate, ranking fourth nationwide.
Meet the Taizhou Entrepreneur Behind the Bears
The person orchestrating all of this is Liang Guangwei (梁光伟), the actual controller of the Shenzhen Huaqiang Group (Shenzhen Huaqiang Jituan 深圳华强集团), which is the controlling shareholder of Fantawild.
At 63 years old, Liang is a low-profile cultural and entertainment tycoon born in Taizhou, Zhejiang.
His background gives us a clue about how he thinks:
- Education: Computer Science degree from Shenzhen University (Shenzhen Daxue 深圳大学)
- Career trajectory: Joined Huaqiang Group after graduation and eventually became Chairman
- Leadership style: Works behind the scenes; doesn’t hold a specific operational role at Fantawild, instead employing a professional management team
- Current net worth: ¥19.5 billion RMB ($2.71 billion USD) as of 2025 Hurun Global Rich List
What’s interesting is that Liang isn’t micromanaging operations.
At the end of 2025, a new management cohort was announced:
- Dun Zhongjie (顿忠杰): Became an employee representative director
- Rong Zhigang (戎志刚): Promoted to President
- Liu Daoqiang (刘道强): Resigned as President but remains Chairman of Fantawild
This is how you build a lasting enterprise—by surrounding yourself with strong operational talent and letting them execute.
The Financial Reality: What Happens When a Film Underperforms
But here’s where the dependency becomes clear.
The Boonie Bears IP isn’t just entertainment—it’s the financial backbone of Fantawild’s entire business model.
When 2025’s Time Twist underperformed at ¥821 million RMB, the ripple effects were significant:
- Cultural content revenue: Dropped 60.1% year-on-year for first half of 2025
- Net profits: Plummeted 79.5%
Let that sink in.
One film performing below expectations nearly wiped out profitability for the entire year.
That’s the reality of being dependent on a single IP, no matter how successful it’s been historically.
The Real Money Isn’t in Movies—It’s in Theme Parks
Here’s the plot twist that most people miss.
The Boonie Bears films aren’t the ultimate revenue driver for Fantawild.
They’re the “pawn” that keeps the real game in motion.
The films serve a strategic purpose: they maintain IP heat and drive traffic to theme parks throughout the year.
Think about it from a business perspective.
Every Spring Festival, the film refreshes the public’s memory of the “Bear-Strong” trio—keeping the characters alive in people’s minds and making them want to visit the parks where they can experience these characters in person.
And Liang has built a lot of parks.
As of September 2025, Liang operates over 40 theme parks across China, including brands like:
- Fantawild Adventure
- Dream Kingdom
- Oriental Heritage
These parks are spread across major cities including Wuhu, Xiamen, and Zhengzhou.
Here’s where the real money is:
In the first half of 2025, theme parks contributed nearly 90% of Fantawild’s ¥2.68 billion RMB ($372.4 million USD) revenue.
The business model is brilliant in its simplicity.
Movies drive awareness and desire.
Theme parks monetize that desire.
Converting Cinema into Real-World Experiences
What Fantawild has figured out is how to take fantasy elements from the films and convert them into actual park attractions.
Here’s a concrete example:
After the release of Time Twist, the Ningbo Fantawild park quickly recreated the movie’s environments, including:
- “Future Tech City”
- “Forest Secret Realm”
The result?
The park attracted over 600,000 visitors in its first year.
That’s the power of converting media into experiential revenue.
The Asset-Light Expansion Model
Building and operating 40+ theme parks is capital-intensive.
But Liang’s team has developed a scalable approach that reduces capital requirements while maintaining quality control.
They use two primary models:
- Co-investment model: Building parks with investors while providing specialized equipment and management
- Licensing model: Providing only equipment and services to investors without direct capital investment
This is how you scale globally without betting the entire company on real estate.
The Succession Problem: Can Fantawild Create Another Boonie Bears?
Here’s the vulnerability that keeps executives awake at night.
Outside of Boonie Bears, Liang Guangwei has yet to create a second IP with similar cultural impact.
The company has released other content:
- Sequels like Zhao Lin’s Adventure Diary II
- New series like Dragon and Xiao Xiao
But none of them have achieved “breakout” status beyond niche children’s markets.
This is a real problem.
What happens in 2027 if Boonie Bears suddenly loses momentum?
The company needs a secondary franchise engine.
The Technical Foundation: Fantawild’s Hidden Strength
But here’s what most outsiders don’t realize about Fantawild.
The company has built a deep technical infrastructure that goes way beyond making animated films.
- IP portfolio: Over 2,000 intellectual property rights
- VR track systems: Proprietary technology for immersive attractions
- Panoramic theaters: 360-degree viewing experiences
- AI-generated content: Showcased a two-hour theatrical film generated entirely by AI
- Cinema systems: Exported to over 40 countries, including the US and Canada
This technical foundation is the moat that protects Fantawild from competition.
It’s not just an animation studio.
It’s a technology company in the entertainment space.
Global Positioning: Fantawild vs. Disney
Here’s a number that puts everything into perspective.
According to TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) data from 2024 to 2025, Fantawild’s theme park attendance ranked second globally—trailing only behind Disney (Disini 迪士尼).
Second in the world.
In the theme park business.
That’s not a niche player.
That’s a global entertainment powerhouse that most Western investors have never heard of.
The Path Forward: Why the Next Blockbuster IP Is Just a Matter of Time
Yes, Fantawild has a succession IP problem today.
But the foundation is in place for the next breakthrough.
Consider what they have:
- 40+ operational theme parks that can serve as testing grounds for new IPs
- 2,000+ intellectual property rights waiting to be developed
- World-class technical capabilities in VR, AI, and immersive experiences
- Second-largest theme park attendance globally providing massive visitor base for experiential marketing
- Proven track record of converting media into revenue
The soil is ready.
The machinery is in place.
The capital is available.
The arrival of the next blockbuster IP may simply be a matter of time—and execution.
For Liang Guangwei and Fantawild, the Boonie Bears franchise represents a masterclass in long-term franchise building within the Chinese market.
But the real story is just beginning.
