Lowest in eight years! 2026 Spring Festival Film Season concludes with a total box office of 5.752 billion yuan

Cailian Press, February 24 — (Reporter Wang Yanlin, Intern Reporter Jiang Yumin) The 2026 Spring Festival film season has concluded. According to the National Film Administration, as of 9 a.m. on February 24, the total box office revenue for the 2026 Spring Festival was 5.752 billion yuan, with 120 million viewers. Among them, “Flying Life 3” led with 2.927 billion yuan in box office, while “Silent Chilling,” “Dartman: The Wind Rises in the Desert,” “Bears: Yearly Bears,” “Panda Plan: Tribal Adventure,” and “Star River Dreams” ranked second to sixth.

Data from Maoyan Research Institute shows that this year’s Spring Festival box office declined by 39.5% year-on-year, hitting a new low in eight years. During the period, only the first day of the Lunar New Year saw single-day box office exceeding 1 billion yuan, with daily average box office falling below 1 billion yuan for the first time in nearly six years. Additionally, the average daily viewers during the festival decreased by 36.4% year-on-year to 16.97 million. The occupancy rate on the first day of the Lunar New Year was less than 40%, with an average of nearly six years lowest viewers per screening.

In terms of ticket prices, the average ticket price for this year’s Spring Festival dropped by 5.9% year-on-year to 47.8 yuan, reaching a recent low. The decline was even more significant in third- and fourth-tier cities. A research report from Zheshang Securities states that the continuous decrease in the average daily ticket price has somewhat lowered the barrier to movie-going. Along with the price reduction, various regions also launched consumer coupons to stimulate demand, but the improvement in viewer numbers did not meet expectations and failed to effectively activate the market.

Overall, this year’s Spring Festival film season showed a “dominance by one” pattern, with “Flying Life 3” contributing over half of the box office during the period. The other films did not surpass 1 billion yuan in box office revenue during the festival. According to Maoyan Pro data, “Flying Life 3” was co-produced by nine companies, including Bona Film Group (001330.SZ), Maoyan Entertainment (01896.HK), Damai Entertainment (01060.HK), Wanda Cinema (002739.SZ), China Film (600977.SH), Hengdian Film & TV (603103.SH), among others. The main producer was Shanghai Tingdong Film Co., Ltd., whose legal representative and actual controller is Han Han, holding a 57.26% stake. The second-largest shareholder is Bona Film Group with 9.55%.

As of the time of writing, “Flying Life 3” has grossed over 2.7 billion yuan in box office revenue, with 39.08% (about 1.06 billion yuan) going to the film producers and 52.27% (about 1.418 billion yuan) to theaters.

“Silent Chilling” and “Dartman: The Wind Rises in the Desert” ranked second and third on the box office list, with total revenues of 868 million yuan and 806 million yuan, respectively. Both films were produced by Damai Entertainment and China Film. “Dartman: The Wind Rises in the Desert” was a dark horse of this year’s Spring Festival, achieving four consecutive days of box office growth from February 19, thanks to positive word-of-mouth, rising from fourth place on opening day to second in daily box office later.

Maoyan Research Institute’s data insights indicate that the overall Spring Festival box office ultimately showed an extreme polarization pattern, with “Flying Life 3” leading sharply. The industry urgently needs to reassess the “battlefield” of the Spring Festival market, as the common phenomenon of late scheduling significantly compressed the window for ordinary audiences to recognize and decide to buy tickets, especially affecting non-IP films. As a result, marketing and promotion have become highly dependent on post-release word-of-mouth. If the word-of-mouth cannot break out widely, box office growth will be difficult to achieve.

However, due to shorter average film durations, the total number of screenings during this year’s Spring Festival increased significantly. According to Maoyan Pro data, the total screenings exceeded 4.35 million, setting a new record for the Spring Festival in Chinese film history. Zheshang Securities believes that although the number of screenings broke records, the overall occupancy rate was only 22.5%, nearly halving the 2025 Spring Festival occupancy rate. The “quantity over price” strategy in theaters has had limited effect, reflecting a clear mismatch between demand and supply.

On the first trading day after the festival, the film and television theater sector collectively declined. Stocks such as Enlight Media (300251.SZ), Wanda Film, Hengdian Film & TV, Shanghai Film (601595.SH), Bona Film Group, and China Film hit the daily limit down.