By 2026, box office revenue has exceeded 11.8 billion yuan, with four films surpassing 1 billion yuan.

Reporter Li Haoyue

Lighthouse Pro data shows that, as of 5:00 p.m. on March 31, the total box office of the film market in March has already reached 2.112 billion yuan. By this point, 2026’s box office results have reached 11.869 billion yuan. Since the start of the year, there have been four films with box office exceeding 1 billion yuan: 《Fly Me to the Moon 3》, 《Biao Ren: Wind Rises over the Great Desert》, 《Jingzhe Wusheng》, and 《Boonie Bears: The Bear Year 2026》.

《Fly Me to the Moon 3》 won the box office champion for the first quarter of 2026 with a box office of 4.35 billion yuan, with the film’s distributor share totaling 1.544 billion yuan. According to the reporter’s statistics, seven listed companies—Maoyan Entertainment, Damai Entertainment, Wanda Film, Bona Film, China Film, Hengdian Film, and Enlight Media—will receive the film’s distributor share.

Yang Huayu, a senior research fellow at Shanghai Xiazhiliangshi Consulting & Management Co., Ltd., told The Securities Daily that the overall performance of China’s film market in the first quarter of 2026 has been steady. In March, which is also a low-season period, box office still exceeded 2 billion yuan, and the market’s resilience continued to be evident. Overall, in the first quarter, the industrialization level of leading projects improved, the participation of listed companies increased, the structure of schedule supply was optimized, and the driving effect of leading films was prominent.

The Qingming Festival slate approaching in April will kick off competition for the second quarter of the film market. Lighthouse Pro data shows that 19 films have been confirmed for release during the Qingming Festival slate, exceeding the 11 films during the same period in 2025. As of March 31, the total box office of new releases during the Qingming Festival slate has already surpassed 30 million yuan (including preview screenings and advance ticket sales). The films 《Me, Xu Ke》, 《My Mother, Yeah》, 《Sunshine Girls Choir》, 《The Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie》, and 《Tian Cai Game》 are temporarily in the top five on the advance ticket sales ranking.

Lighthouse Pro data analyst Chen Jin told The Securities Daily that this year’s growth in the number of films in the Qingming Festival slate mainly comes from multiple low-budget thriller titles clustering to enter the market. In the past two years, several box-office “dark horses” have emerged in the domestic thriller track. For example, 《Yuan Yang Lou: The Story of Horror》, released in late October 2024, raked in 130 million yuan in box office; now its sequel, 《Butterfly Tower: The Story of Horror》, has also been scheduled for this year’s Qingming Festival slate.

It is understood that 《Butterfly Tower: The Story of Horror》 is the film with the highest number of participating listed companies among the new releases in the Qingming Festival slate. A total of five listed companies—China Film, Maoyan Entertainment, Enlight Pictures, Hengdian Film, and Enlight Media—appear in the production lineup.

“As the first short holiday viewing period after the Spring Festival, this year’s Qingming Festival slate, besides having abundant thriller supply, also includes the globally popular game IP adaptation film 《The Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie》. In addition, during the slate there are also strong realist female-themed works like 《Me, Xu Ke》, a family comedy 《My Mother, Yeah》, and a suspense crime film 《Tian Cai Game》. With diverse and multi-type offerings, it is expected to draw audiences from different circles into theaters,” Chen Jin said.

When discussing competition trends for this year’s Qingming Festival slate, Chen Jin said: “We hope the reputation of Qingming Festival films can be recognized by the market. At the same time, the already-released imported sci-fi film 《Rescue Plan》 has been receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback, and the box office trend remains strong. It is expected to carry forward an excellent performance during the Qingming Festival slate. We look forward to this year’s Qingming Festival slate box office achieving year-on-year growth, injecting vitality into the 2026 spring film market.”

(Editor: Wen Jing)

Keywords:

                                                            Film
                                                            Box office