Recently finishing "Chasing Dreams 3," I find myself more interested in discussing the underlying capital story.

The final scene of this movie has no fireworks; it’s just two middle-aged men having a simple conversation before going their separate ways. It’s a bit like life itself—some of the most thrilling moments are silent. And Han Han, from the young "show-off" he was back then to now a director wielding capital, has in some ways completed this transformation.

Lighthouse Media has invested heavily in this project. Last year’s "Nezha: The Devil’s Child Causes Havoc" with a monstrous box office of 15.4 billion yuan caused Lighthouse’s 2025 performance forecast to explode—net profit is expected to be 1.5-1.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 400%. But although "Chasing Dreams 3" is expected to be the Spring Festival’s top-grossing film, with a box office of around 4 billion yuan, the net profit contribution to the company would only be about 200-230 million yuan. In comparison, the gap is quite significant.

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. Over the past two years, Lighthouse has been focusing on creating films that score above 90 points. "Nezha" can be considered a 120-point level, while "Detective Chinatown 1900" and "Wandering Mountain Little Monster" are in the 92-95 point range. But at the same time, some works have been overexerted without effect, even some that failed. This reflects a larger trend—movies are becoming industrial products. AI can mass-produce content scoring 75 points, but works above 90 still rely on human creators. So for creators, it’s either making films above 90 points or being eliminated. "Chasing Dreams 3" is, to some extent, proof of this.

But there’s a hidden concern here. Works like Nezha, which are once-in-a-century level, can’t appear every year. In 2025, Lighthouse relied on Nezha to support over 90% of its annual performance. By 2026, as the market normalizes, the box office share of animated films might drop to 15-20%. Plus, with animation production cycles long (3-5 years), cash flow pressures will gradually emerge. When investors realize that performance can’t be sustained, a decline in market value is almost inevitable.

Therefore, "Chasing Dreams 3" is, in a sense, a test for Lighthouse Media in this new cycle. Whether it can carry forward the momentum left by Nezha will determine how this story unfolds next. But from current performance, the game of capital is far from over.