A movie theater in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province Photo: VCG

China's summer movie season is heating up, and war dramas are emerging as standout performers. As of Monday night, the total box-office revenue for the summer season had surpassed 5.41 billion yuan ($756 million), according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan. Among the top performers is Dead to Rights, a war drama that opened on Friday and quickly rose to dominate the charts.

The summer movie season, running from June 1 to August 31, is seen by industry observers as China's most important movie period second only to the Spring Festival holiday.

Dead to Rights grossed over 490 million yuan as of Monday. It held the No.1 spot at the box office over its opening weekend and set a new opening day record for summer war films released in the past three years, according to Maoyan.

As 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War, a wave of commemorative films has been released this summer. These include Dead to Rights, Dongji Rescue, and Mountains and Rivers Bearing Witnesses - inspired by real historical events and designed to showcase the resilience and spirit of the Chinese people during wartime.

Directed by Shen Ao and starring Liu Haoran, Wang Chuanjun, Gao Ye, and Wang Xiao, Dead to Rights draws its narrative from one of the darkest chapters in modern history: the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. The film follows A Chang (Liu), a local postman who impersonates a photo developer to survive. He works inside a photo studio in Nanjing, secretly documenting atrocities while sheltering Chinese civilians and soldiers within its walls.

Rather than depicting large-scale battlefield scenes, the film focuses on intimate, personal stories to convey the reality of war, Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the Central Academy of Culture and Tourism Administration, pointed out during an interview with the Global Times on Monday. 

"The director didn't dwell excessively on recreating scenes of massacre," said Sun. "Instead, he used the massacre as a somber backdrop and interconnected the fates of several small characters. The emotional weight is carried subtly but powerfully through these individuals' experiences."

In addition, the film offers a nuanced portrayal of heroism and strikes a careful balance between historical authenticity and emotional storytelling, added Sun. 

"What moved and impressed me most about Dead to Rights was how the director captured a people's perspective on history," read a comment on social media site Xiaohongshu. "This isn't merely a story about a single individual - it is the story of the people of Nanjing, of the Chinese." 

In addition to Dead to Rights, several other war-themed films are making waves this summer.

Grounded in history, Dongji Rescue, starring Zhu Yilong, recounts the true story of Chinese fishermen rescuing over 300 British prisoners of war after the Japanese transport ship Lisbon Maru was torpedoed and left to sink, despite being secretly packed with more than 1,800 prisoners, in October 1942. 

The Zhao Linshan directed 731, which stars Jiang Wu and Wang Zhiwen, revisits the horrific World War II-era human experiments conducted by Japan's Unit 731, documenting a painful chapter of history while portraying the Chinese people's heroic resistance. 

Mountains and Rivers Bearing Witness, set for release on August 15, offers a panoramic view of China's 14-year war of resistance. Using digital restoration and artistic re-creation techniques, the film revives the collective memory of the nation's wartime struggle.