Watching movies during the Spring Festival has become a new tradition. Over 50% of the Spring Festival box office comes from third- and fourth-tier cities.

Gelonghui February 21 | According to data from online platforms, the total box office (including pre-sales) for the 2026 Spring Festival holiday has exceeded 4 billion yuan. Nowadays, watching movies during the Spring Festival holiday has become a new tradition for more and more grassroots people. As China’s film market continues to develop in depth, the “bottom-up” market has shown strong consumption potential during the Spring Festival. Data from ticketing platforms indicate that third- and fourth-tier cities have been the main contributors to Spring Festival box office for three consecutive years. In addition to traditional reasons such as content being more aligned with regional preferences, this year’s Spring Festival also featured a new AI ticketing method that made purchasing tickets more convenient. Film data analyst Chen Jin stated, “As of now, third- and fourth-tier cities contributed 53.72% of the total box office during this Spring Festival, a significant increase compared to last year, and also the highest contribution rate in history.”