China's box office in 2026 hits 2-bln-yuan mark ahead of Spring Festival

China's box office in 2026 hit the mark of 2 billion yuan (about 287.7 million U.S. dollars) as of 15:26 Sunday, according to online box office data trackers.

With the 2026 Spring Festival approaching, the film market continues to heat up. To date, six domestic films have announced their release dates during the festival: Pegasus 3, Scare Out, Blades of the Guardians, Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector, Per Aspera Ad Astra, and Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe. These films cover a variety of genres including martial arts, action, suspense, fantasy, comedy, and animation, catering to diverse audience preferences.

According to past experiences, the period between the New Year holiday and the Spring Festival holiday is typically a low season for box office revenue. However, in the first 10 days of January 2026, the country's cinema box office increased by more than 10 percent compared with the same period of 2025, which indicates that the off-season is not as lackluster, showcasing the robust momentum and significant growth potential of the Chinese film market.

A diverse lineup of domestic and imported films spanning comedy, action, suspense and romance has helped sustain strong audience turnout early in the year.

China's urban employment situation remained generally stable in the first half of 2026, with 6.95 million new jobs created, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on Wednesday.

The number of new urban jobs was unchanged from the same period of last year, while the average surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent from January to June, the ministry said.

During the period, China issued 3.6 billion yuan (about 530 million U.S. dollars) in unemployment insurance subsidies to help stabilize employment, 900 million yuan in one-off job expansion subsidies and 1.2 billion yuan in skills training subsidies, said the ministry.