Box office has already exceeded 5.6 billion yuan this year! "Pegasus 3" leads by a wide margin, and several films' box office forecasts have been raised.

According to Maoyan Pro data, as of 10:00 p.m. on February 19, the total box office for the 2026 Spring Festival holiday (February 15–23) reached 3.2 billion yuan.

Among them, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, February 17, the single-day box office reached 1.278 billion yuan, with a total of 595,000 screenings, setting a new record for the most screenings on a single day during the Chinese New Year. At the same time, driven by the Spring Festival holiday, the total box office since 2026 has smoothly surpassed 5 billion yuan as of February 19, currently exceeding 5.6 billion yuan.

Maoyan Entertainment market analyst Lai Li stated that February 19 is the third day of the Lunar New Year, and the Spring Festival schedule is basically halfway through. Looking back at the first half of this year’s Spring Festival schedule, the festival officially kicked off on the 15th, and the films officially premiered on the 17th. Despite the overall poor pre-sale performance of new films during the holiday, the single-day performance on the first day exceeded expectations, marking a good start for this year’s Spring Festival schedule.

Compared to the first day, the second day saw a significant drop, with a single-day box office of only 846 million yuan, which also led to a downward revision of the box office forecasts for several Spring Festival films. By the third day, the single-day performance once again beat expectations, injecting confidence into the market and helping the total box office during the holiday surpass 3 billion yuan by the evening of the third day. Overall, although there have been some fluctuations in the first half of this year’s Spring Festival schedule, it has remained on a steady upward trend. The performance in the second half of the schedule is still worth looking forward to.

In terms of individual film performance, according to Maoyan Pro data, as of 10:00 p.m. on February 19, “Flying Past Life 3” led this year’s Spring Festival schedule with a strong box office of over 1.583 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the total during the period. The second-place film, “Silent Insect,” achieved over 511 million yuan, performing below expectations overall. The third place is “Bears Out and About: Yearly Bears,” with a cumulative box office of 395 million yuan, leveraging a broad family audience and performing relatively steadily.

“Assassin: The Wind Rises in the Desert” ranked fourth with over 366 million yuan, achieving a single-day box office rebound on the third day of the Lunar New Year. It is currently the only film during the Spring Festival schedule to see its single-day ranking rise so far, and the gap with the top-ranked “Bears Out and About: Yearly Bears” is narrowing, making a long-term comeback based on word of mouth quite possible. The fifth place is “Panda Project: Tribal Adventure,” with a box office exceeding 120 million yuan during the period. “Star River Dreams” ranks sixth with over 60 million yuan. Notably, the documentary “Return to the Wolf Pack,” released on the third day of the Lunar New Year and distributed only through Yilian’s dedicated line, achieved a single-day box office of over 5 million yuan, with an 18.9% occupancy rate, surpassing several new films during the holiday.

Lai Li said that thanks to the better-than-expected performance on the third day, the forecasted box office for several films has been raised again. Among them, “Flying Past Life 3” is now predicted to surpass 4.3 billion yuan in total box office, and the forecast for “Silent Insect,” “Assassin: The Wind Rises in the Desert,” and “Bears Out and About: Yearly Bears” has also increased to varying degrees. Additionally, starting from the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the Hong Kong film “Night King” will premiere in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with Maoyan Pro predicting its single-day box office will exceed 17 million yuan. “We look forward to maintaining the enthusiasm in the second half of this year’s Spring Festival schedule, with the market performance continuing to rise and bringing more surprises.”

(Source: Securities Times)