China’s 2026 Lunar New Year Box Office: Pegasus 3 Leads Amid Market Slump

China's theatrical market faces a significant 65% decline in early 2026 despite the $369 million opening of Pegasus 3. Recent hits highlight industry volatility and the mounting pressure for major releases.

Market Volatility in China’s 2026 Film Season

The overall gentleness of the schedule compared with recent years’ vacation hauls underscores the expanding volatility of China’s theatrical market, where a single outbreak hit can overmuch figure out the market’s yearly trajectory. Theater drivers have actually now begun 2026 at a shortage, placing added pressure on the local industry to provide significant hits later in the year that can turn around the downward energy at the nation’s movie theaters in recent times.

Pegasus 3 is presently on course to top out at around $622 million (RMB 4.3 billion)– a huge number, without a doubt, however not enough to save the marketplace in the middle of the reasonably weak performance of its fellow holiday releases. To date, China’s theatrical box office is down 65 percent compared to the same duration in 2025.

Zhang Yimou’s Scare Out, which opened in 2nd place, notes the veteran filmmaker’s return to the espionage category adhering to the success of Cliff Walkers (2021 ). The modern spy thriller celebrities Jackson Yee and Zhu Yilong and fixate a national-security investigation activated by the leak of sensitive armed forces intelligence. The job is generated by Damai Enjoyment, with Alibaba Pictures taking care of distribution.

Box Office Performance of Pegasus 3

In any kind of other market during any other holiday, a smash hit opening of over $300 million would certainly be an instant cause for event. But the $369.3 million launching of race-car comedy Pegasus 3 throughout the very first six days of China’s Lunar New Year vacation included a potentially worrying caution.

The film includes a marquee ensemble led by Wu Jing, Nicholas Tse, Yu Shi, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Jet Li. Manufacturing is backed by Woo Sound Photos and Beijing Dengfeng International Culture Communications Firm, together with Damai Home Entertainment, China Movie Team, Huaxia Movie and various other partners.

Complete ticket revenue throughout the holiday so far, however, has actually amounted to $715 million (RMB 5.1 billion), a 38.6 percent decrease from the initial six days of Chinese New Year in 2025 ($1.2 billion, or RMB 8.3 billion).

Diversity in Holiday Film Releases

Fourth-place finisher Boonie Bears: The Surprise Guard proceeds the long-running animated franchise business’s regular Lunar New Year visibility for family target markets. Directed by Lin Huida and created by Fantawild Computer animation, the installation adheres to Briar, Shrub and their human companion Vick as they come across Nian– the mythological beast associated with the Lunar New Year– whose arrival gives them strange new powers and draws them into a sensational city populated by mythological pressures.

Pegasus 3 is the latest installation of blogger-turned-blockbuster director Han Han’s hit racing-comedy franchise business, again led by Shen Teng as underdog motorist Zhang Chi. The film’s producers consist of Shanghai Tingdong Film Co., Maoyan Damai Amusement, Bona Movie Group, Wanda Pictures and others.

China’s theatrical movie market has grown so top-heavy in recent years that the Lunar New Year holiday corridor normally establishes the tone for the whole year. In 2015’s vacation victor, animated follow up Ne Zha 2, took place to wreck worldwide documents with a $2.2 billion ticket office total amount, ensuring that China’s film market organized a full-year recovery despite the fact that many significant residential launches dissatisfied throughout the remainder of the schedule.

Ranking the Lunar New Year Blockbusters

The film pulled much in advance of the competition during the opening stretch of China’s greatest moviegoing week of the year, leaving Zhang Yimou’s reconnaissance thriller Scare Out in a remote second area with $110.7 million, fighting styles impressive Blades of the Guardians in 3rd with $97.3 million and household computer animation Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector in the 3rd at $89.7 million, according to information from Artisan Gateway covering Feb. 17– 22. Jackie Chan’s action-comedy sequel Panda Strategy 2 used up the back with $24.6 million.

Pegasus 3 is the most recent installation of blogger-turned-blockbuster director Han Han’s hit racing-comedy franchise, once more led by Shen Teng as underdog driver Zhang Chi. In the most recent installation, Zhang returns to competition to lead a newly set up group in a high-stakes worldwide rally. The film’s manufacturers include Shanghai Tingdong Film Co., Maoyan Damai Entertainment, Bona Movie Team, Wanda Photo and others.

In 3rd placement, Blades of the Guardians is a star-driven wuxia spectacle routed by famous action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping and adapted from the prominent manhua Biao Ren. The film features a marquee ensemble led by Wu Jing, Nicholas Tse, Yu Shi, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Jet Li. Manufacturing is backed by Woo Sound Pictures and Beijing Dengfeng International Society Communications Business, together with Damai Home Entertainment, China Film Team, Huaxia Movie and various other companions.