China's 2026 box office revenue had surpassed 14 billion yuan (about 2.06 billion U.S. dollars) as of Tuesday, fueled by a diverse array of hit movies and consumption promotion campaigns.
The film industry got off to a strong start during the Spring Festival holiday. "Pegasus 3," the latest installment in director Han Han's racing comedy franchise, amassed over 4 billion yuan and remains the year's top grossing film so far.
Released during the Qingming Festival, the comedy drama "It's OK" focused on a mother-daughter bond and resonated strongly with young women, topping April's box office chart with more than 160 million yuan in ticket sales.
During the just concluded May Day holiday, "Dear You," a low budget film in the Chaoshan (Teochew) dialect featuring an almost entirely first-time cast, became one of China's biggest cinematic surprises of 2026. As the highest rated domestic release so far this year, the tear-jerking drama had raked in over 180 million yuan as of Wednesday afternoon.
The five-day May Day holiday, a key period for movie-going, drew more than 20.8 million people to cinemas, a 10 percent jump from a year ago, while the number of screenings rose 2 percent to nearly 2.4 million.
Bolstered by the "2026 China Film Consumption Year" and "China Travel with Chinese Films" initiatives, cinema spending has become a major driver of cultural and tourism consumption. The entire film industry chain has generated over 220 billion yuan in output value since January.
China's 2026 box office surpasses 14 bln yuan
