China’s Linmon Pictures used this week’s TIFFCOM film and TV rights market, which takes place alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival, to provide updates of four large-scale costume drama series it will release through 2025 and early 2026. The company says period-historical series are a growth area. 

Linmon Pictures, which has a Hong Kong stock market listing that gives a current market capitalisation of HK$1.16 billion (approx US$150 million), works across film and TV and has activities that stretch from production through distribution and international sales. Its shows are typically co-commissioned with mainland China broadcasters or streamers, but the company claims to own and control all rights in the rest of the world.

The nearest series to completion is “Moonlit Reunion,” a lush romantic-fantasy drama, set in Chang An city during the Tang Dynasty period. Running to 34x45-minute episodes, the series stars Xu Kai and Tian Xiwei as a woman who is half-demon, half human and a (male) demon hunter. With Tencent Video set as its China partner, the show is now in post-production and expected to premiere in the second quarter of 2025.

Also, in post-production and headed for a summer 2025 release (albeit without a disclosed China platform) is “A Dream Within a Dream.” The 38x45 mins costume comedy-romance takes on a swirling cyberpunk look and feel as it delivers a story about a struggling actress who crosses over into the fantasy world depicted in a screenplay. There she encounters and tries to escape from a cruel male antagonist who has misused her many times before.

“In the Moonlight” is scheduled to be in production from the end of 2024 and the early months of 2025. The 40x45-minute costume romance involves an impoverished princess and a sickly and demanding emperor who are forced into a marriage of convenience. Despite their differences, they heal and support each other. Key crew and cast have not been disclosed.

Starting up fractionally later and with a likely delivery date in 2026 is “A Journey to Glow”, another costume romance. The 40x45-minute series is a sequel to “A Journey to Love,” a successful 2023-24 series that claimed a huge market share within China on iQiyi. It also played overseas on platforms including iQiyi, Viu and YouTube.

“This is the story of five individuals who have been thrown to the lowest point by fate in turbulent times: A wandering female thief, a disgraced government official, a searching general, a guardian of tombs and a struggling businessman. In the midst of light-hearted healing and self-discovery, they strive to rebuild themselves,” reads a supplied synopsis.

Linmon has previously reported that, in making mostly premium content, it deploys per episode budgets of RMB4-6 million (US$560,000–$840,000).

“We have never made so many costume drama shows as we are now doing,” a company spokesman said at the Tokyo presentation.

“’Journey’ does not depict any specific historical period, but like “Game of Thrones”, which includes non-specific European elements and feudal influences, our show is set in a fictional, historical world with typically Chinese elements”.

Compared with western premium drama series, which range from six to 12 episodes, Chinese shows typically have many more.

Zhou Yuan, co-founder and EVP of Linmon, explained that the large number of episodes per season is intended to maximise the efficient use of cast, crews and facilities.

“Also, for streaming platforms, the high number of episodes helps with subscriber acquisition. That’s because they derive so much of their viewership from social media,” said Zhou. “It often happens that they ask us to produce more episodes. But, for the past three years, industry regulations cap the per-episode count at 40 per season.”

In the contemporary drama register, Linmon has delivered “Under the Skin 2” a 28x45 mins second season of a mystery drama series, starring Tan Jianci and Jin Shijia, about a police detective and a portrait artist who has special powers. The first season achieved one of the highest ever viewer completion rates on Tencent Video, Linmon reported.

In Tokyo, the company also gave an international premiere to “The Unseen Sister,” a suspense-drama film by Taiwan/Myanmar-based director, Midi Z. The film debuted on commercial release in China on Saturday and earned gross box office revenues of RMB71.2 million (approx US$10 million) in two days, putting it second place over its opening weekend.