More than 50 listed companies in the film, television and publishing industries are vying to develop IP operation businesses.

When the prospect of the cultural and entertainment "content" ontology is full of uncertainties, derivative commercialization has become a must-win battlefield

In early August, a data from the Japan Magazine Association "shocked" the Japanese publishing industry: Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, which once sold 8.5 million copies per month, saw its average monthly circulation in the last quarter drop below 1 million copies. The circulation of Kodansha's Weekly Shonen MAGAZINE was 281,000 copies, and Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen SUNDAY was 120,000 copies.

A senior industry practitioner said that this is not just a change of a single magazine, but an important watershed of an era.

Statistics show that the decline is not only a landmark recession event of print media, but also the performance of Webtoon and Kakao (Piccoma) operating web comics is declining. The monthly active users of Comic Kingdom dropped sharply by 29.5% in the first half of the year, and comico, which launched web comic services in 2013, announced that it will shut down its services in September...

The same situation can be seen in China. For example, China Literature Group mentioned in its financial report that in the first half of 2026, "online reading is facing increasingly diverse and rapidly expanding competition from the IP visualization market". In the first half of the year, the revenue of China Literature's online business was 1.84 billion yuan, down 7% year on year, and even down 28% compared with several years ago, on the basis that the payment rate has increased by half.

The film and television sector also faces an unclear prospect. For example, the total box office revenue of China's mainland film market in the first half of 2026 was 17.35 billion yuan, down 40.6% year on year.

The chill is not only reflected in the macro figures, but also in the financial statements of leading enterprises.

According to incomplete statistics from Cultural & Creative Tide, more than half of the film and television companies that have disclosed their performance in the first half of 2026 are in a loss state, including iQiyi, Ruyi Pictures, China Film, Maoyan Entertainment, Hengdian World Studios, Bona Film Group, Enlight Media, Huayi Brothers, Hengxin Oriental, Straw Bear Entertainment, H&R Century Pictures, ST Mingcheng, Ciwen Media, Beijing Culture, Happiness Blue Ocean, etc. Among listed publishing companies, ChineseAll, iReader, Pingzhi Information, Shiji Tianhong, Guomai Culture, Rongxin Culture and other companies have also suffered losses of varying degrees — it can be said that the whole industry is going through a collective "winter".

Against this background, "three-dimensional IP development and diversified monetization" has become the industry consensus. Enterprises represented by listed companies are seeking business transformation one after another, accelerating the construction of an integrated business ecosystem of "content - commodity - experience", and realizing the full-domain release and long-term value appreciation of IP value through multi-touchpoint linkage such as film-game linkage, immersive experience, cultural-tourism integration, and derivative development.

Cultural & Creative Tide noticed that more than 50 cultural and entertainment "content" listed companies covering film, television and publishing have emphasized "IP operation" or "IP derivatives" or similar terms in their half-year performance reports.

In this article, we will take a look at the enterprises that have taken major actions, including Ruyi Pictures (formerly "Wanda Film"), China Film, Bona Film Group, Shanghai Film, Maoyan Entertainment on the cinema chain side, Mango Super Media, Yuehua Entertainment, Enlight Media, Linmon Pictures, Huace Film and TV on the film and television platform and production side, as well as reading and publishing groups such as China Literature, ChineseAll and CITIC Press.

Cinema chain side: Immersive scenarios + cultural-tourism linkage + trendy toy products are accelerating implementation

In the first half of 2026, Ruyi Pictures achieved a revenue of 5.089 billion yuan, down 23.92% year on year; the attributable net profit was about -154 million yuan, compared with a profit of 536 million yuan in the same period of last year.

In the past two years, Ruyi Pictures has invested in trendy toy brand 52TOYS and smart photo sticker brand Picubic. At present, 52TOYS has settled in 402 domestic cinemas and 11 overseas cinema chains, and the number of Picubic's national equipment has exceeded 2000 units within half a year.

This year, Ruyi Pictures officially changed its name (formerly known as Wanda Film) to complete brand renewal. Its "Super Entertainment Space" strategy has entered the 2.0 upgrading stage, clarifying the two-wheel drive of "super scenario + super IP".

On the cinema scenario side, the first three "six-star cinemas" were unveiled in August. Centering on the "five senses" concept, it introduced the "Time in" trendy toy and lifestyle integrated store, 52TOYS trendy toys, Picubic smart photo equipment, Time Card Collection stores, healthy drink stores and IP pop-up stores, and regularly carried out IP co-branding, offline markets, intangible cultural heritage handcraft activities, upgrading cinemas into a comprehensive cultural space integrating movie watching, socializing, trendy toy consumption and IP experience.

For example, with the theme of "Be the Shining Self", it carried out a series of marketing activities in cooperation with *Barbie*, *The Devil Wears Prada 2* and fashion magazine ELLE; opened the exclusive themed pop-up store of Time in x MartySupreme in cooperation with *Supreme Marty*; launched co-branded packages with NetEase's *Eggy Party* and carried out summer fan competition and the second live broadcast of the Peak Championship, effectively improving the average store passenger flow and consumption conversion rate.

At the same time, the C2B2C new model covering four sectors of newly released films, classic long-running works, diversified operations and event live broadcast has been implemented, and the "Group for Good Films" function has been launched to reverse drive film scheduling based on user demands. In terms of TV series, it held multiple premieres and screenings of *Night Confession* and *Dazzling*; in terms of variety shows, it cooperated with Hunan TV and Mango TV to live broadcast *Singer 2026* and *Call Me By Fire 2026*; in terms of animation, it cooperated with Tencent Video OFFLINE to hold hundreds of domestic animation IP themed screenings in 10 cities, creating immersive scenarios such as check-in points and limited special sessions. In addition, cinemas have launched sports/game event live broadcasts, French film exhibitions, light and shadow summer camps and other activities to enrich content supply.

In terms of film IP, it invested and distributed projects such as *Pegasus 3*, *Eight Immortals!*, *Welcome to Dragon Restaurant*, and has reserved high-recognition IPs such as *The Wandering Earth 3*, *Cold War 1995*, *Reborn 2*, *Detective Chinatown Side Story: The Return of the King*, and *Journey to the West: The True and False Monkey King*; in terms of TV series IP, *Night Confession*, *Dazzling*, *Love Has Smoke* have been broadcast, and projects such as *The Strongest Sect in All Ages*, *Prosecutors and Juveniles*, *King of Comedy*, *Dragon Bone Burning Box* have entered post-production or scheduling stages.

On the IP derivative operation side, Ruyi takes Time Derivative Business (a subsidiary of Film Time) as the core carrier, adopting the two-way drive of "co-branded IP cooperation + original IP incubation".

In terms of co-branding, it has cooperated with trendy IPs such as "Yi'er and Bubu", "My Little Pony", "Self-mocking Bear", film and television IPs such as *Beaver Transformation Plan*, *Michael Jackson: The Road to Superstar*, *The First Part of Three Kingdoms: Fighting for Luoyang*, *Eight Immortals!*, as well as game IPs such as *The Longest Journey*, *Eggy Party*, *Shining Nikki*, launching co-branded products, themed cinemas, special event sessions, etc. The sales of derivatives during the Spring Festival period reached nearly 1.7 million units. Later, it will also cooperate with the virtual idol IP "Dream Maker" to build a second scene with leading game companies.

In terms of original incubation, the dream-eating tapir themed trendy toy IP "Momo&Friends" under its banner has been officially released; the first IP "Mogols" of the "Plush Color World" brand is expected to be launched in trendy toy stores at home and abroad within the year; the newly incubated "Totoe Puppy Stealth", "Bitter Gourd Lady" and *Shared Apartment 501* have been unveiled at the 616 brand launch conference, among which "Bitter Gourd Lady" has cooperated with *Never Say Die! 2* to launch cinema co-branded packages and KBTI workplace personality tests, receiving positive market feedback.

Ruyi's Time Card Collection (its own card business) focuses on the collectible card and TCG tracks, and has built an integrated system of "IP cooperation - product distribution - event holding - community management".

In terms of IP cooperation, it joined hands with the streetwear brand PHANTACi to launch the "PHANTA BEAR" collectible card, reached cooperation with *Magic: The Gathering*, obtained the exclusive operation right of *Palworld* TCG in China, and became one of Fanatics' direct purchase retail partners in the Chinese market; in terms of products, it launched three core product lines: "Time Gift", "Star River" and "WOW";

Offline, Time Card Collection relies on directly operated cinemas to hold nearly 100 card store competitions, two large-scale city competitions and markets, as well as Marvel/Disney themed movie-watching card-opening activities and World Cup viewing pop-ups; during the summer vacation, 50 pre-experience sessions of *Palworld Card Game* were held, effectively driving cinema passenger flow. By the end of 2027, Time Card Collection plans to open 200 directly operated stores across the country.

52TOYS invested by Ruyi has settled in 402 domestic cinemas and 26 Australian Hoyts cinemas. The two sides carry out cooperation such as IP co-branded product development and themed exhibition. During the Spring Festival period, they jointly launched the "PoukaPouka" vinyl plush blind box and co-branded packages to promote the sales growth of cinema channels; Picubic smart photo equipment has been deployed in 305 cinemas under its banner, with a total national volume of more than 2000 units, and has expanded to third-party cinema chains such as CGV and MixC Cinemas.

The exploration on the cinema chain side is not limited to Ruyi. Traditional giant China Film is also actively seeking changes.

China Film achieved a revenue of 1.512 billion yuan in the first half of the year, down 11.93% year on year; the attributable net profit loss was 110 million yuan, up 0.28% year on year. Although the box office performance of films produced by the company such as *Pegasus 3* and *Blade's Edge: Wind Rises in the Desert* is good, the continuous shrinkage of the screening business, especially the box office of Spring Festival films lower than the same period of last year, dragged down the overall performance.

This year, the company carried out business innovation with the main line of "Film +", and for the first time listed innovative business as an independent sector, which is classified as one of the six main businesses of the company together with creation, distribution and other businesses.

Innovative business mainly includes cultural and creative business and cultural tourism business. The former creates serialized and themed cultural and creative trendy toy products around its own IP; the latter links local cultural tourism resources, develops film-themed cultural tourism experience, real-scene immersive projects and characteristic research routes, and builds a new business format of "content + scenario + experience + consumption".

In the first half of the year, China Film's innovative business sector achieved a revenue of 2.2033 million yuan, with a gross profit margin of -21.92%. A total of 75 new products were developed, 20 of which have been produced and launched; in cooperation with the IP of *Unconventional Romantic Relationship*, it created themed wall paintings in Zhouzhuang Scenic Area to promote the integration of film and television IP with real-scene cultural tourism; China Film Studio reproduced the film scenes of *Volunteers* and "Mongolian Camp", hosted the Beijing International Film Festival Carnival, carried out film research activities for primary and secondary schools, receiving more than 2500 visitors.

China Film also explores IP scenario-based application on the distribution and