China's film market this summer continues to sizzle, with ticket sales, including pre-sales, reaching 9.5 billion yuan (about 1.4 U.S. billion dollars) since June, online box office trackers indicated on Saturday.
Data show that the 2026 summer film box office (including pre-sales) has registered a daily revenue of more than 100 million yuan for 36 consecutive days and the year-to-date box office is over 25.2 billion yuan.
The season has been bolstered by several standouts and a steady flow of releases.
The drama-comedy Once Upon a Time in the Middle East is the latest film sensation, with box office topping 590 million yuan.
Kung Fu Soccer has raked in nearly 2.3 billion yuan, and All Wishes Come True! has grossed more than a billion and a half yuan.
The Odyssey, directed by renowned filmmaker Christopher Nolan, has grossed over 170 million yuan at the box office since its release on Friday.
This year, the China Film Administration, in coordination with relevant departments, has launched a variety of measures to lower movie ticket prices.
According to statistics, the average movie ticket price this summer stands at 36.3 yuan, down 3.2 percent year on year, hitting the lowest level for the summer film season in nearly five years, which has further stimulated people's enthusiasm for going to cinemas.
China's summer box office tops 9.5 billion yuan
The China-Europe Arctic container express route launched its weekly summer regular service on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Loaded with high-value-added goods such as energy storage cabinets and photovoltaic modules, the vessel departed from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in east China's Zhejiang Province on Saturday. It will travel via the Northeast Arctic waterway to Europe, making successive calls at core ports in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea, including Britain's largest container port of Felixstowe, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany, and Gdynia in Poland.
It is the fastest container shipping route between major ports in China and Europe, significantly shortening the journey and transportation time by crossing the Arctic Ocean. Taking just 20 days to complete, it is significantly faster than the China-Europe freight train (about 25 days), the Suez Canal route (about 40 days), and the Cape of Good Hope route (about 50 days).
The maiden voyage of China's China-Europe Arctic container express route set sail from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on September 23, 2025, and arrived at Britain's Port of Felixstowe, 20 days later via the Arctic shipping lane.
The route is also seen as a key achievement under the Belt and Road Initiative's "Polar Silk Road", poised to provide faster and lower-carbon logistics options for industries such as advanced manufacturing, cross-border e-commerce, and new energy.
China-Europe Arctic container express route starts seasonal regular operation
