Bona bet its entire cash flow on a ¥1B submarine film that grossed ¥393M

Bona Film Group built China's blockbuster business on patriotic action films — Operation Mekong, Operation Red Sea — and pushed the formula to its limit with Operation Leviathan (蛟龙行动), the country's first nuclear-submarine film. Chairman Yu Dong said at a Beijing film forum in April 2024 that Bona had concentrated all its money on the picture: the company's cash flow was 'welded' to it, and smaller films had to stop until it was finished. Public reports put the budget at ¥1B, five times Operation Red Sea's.

Released into the Spring Festival window on January 28, 2025, the film faced Ne Zha 2, which took ¥10.27B. Operation Leviathan reached ¥378M after 17 days; on February 14 the distributor announced it was leaving theaters to return as a re-edited 'special edition' — two weeks after Yu Dong had declared the film would never be pulled. The special edition opened August 30 after six months of rework; Bona's half-year report put the film's total box office at ¥393M.

The bill landed in Bona's accounts: a net loss of ¥1.056B for the first half of 2025, down 661.93% year on year, which the company attributed to the market performance of films it had invested in. The full-year 2025 loss was ¥1.46B — a third consecutive annual loss.