China's summer box office hits 12.5B yuan, maintains growth momentum

China's summer box office grew for the second consecutive year, with revenue reaching nearly 12.5 billion yuan ($1.84 billion) for the June 1-Aug. 31 period, up from 12 billion yuan in 2025, according to the China Film Administration.

Compilation of posters for the top six cinema hits during the 2026 summer season in China. [Images provided to China.org.cn]

Cinema admissions reached about 340 million, marking a steady increase from 321 million in 2025 and 284 million in 2024. Total screenings hit 38.51 million — a record high for the summer season.

Among the top five box office hits, the three highest-grossing were domestic blockbusters. "Kung Fu Soccer," directed by comedy icon Stephen Chow and released July 11, topped the season with 2.31 billion yuan. The war drama "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" — set in an overseas Chinese restaurant — grossed 1.95 billion yuan and continued to gain momentum at the box office. Acclaimed animated fantasy film "All Wishes Come True!" performed strongly, grossing 1.84 billion yuan.

The fourth and fifth movies on the list were Hollywood juggernauts: superhero action movie "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," which grossed more than 1.53 billion yuan, while Christopher Nolan's phenomenal Greek epic "The Odyssey" took in 603 million yuan. The new "Spider-Man" movie has so far taken $2.33 billion worldwide to become the third highest-grossing movie globally in history, behind only "Avatar" and "Avengers: Endgame." "The Odyssey" has now grossed $1.55 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing films this year and in history, Nolan's highest-grossing film of his career and the highest-grossing IMAX movie of all time.

Overall, China's homegrown titles accounted for more than 70% of the summer box office. A total of 18 films crossed the 100 million yuan mark, with four surpassing 1 billion yuan — the highest number in the past three years. To date, the 2026 annual box office has exceeded 28.2 billion yuan, with total admissions surpassing 700 million.

The Maoyan Research Institute's insight report showed that while this season's box office champion failed to cross the 3 billion yuan mark for the first time in five years, multiple hit films attracted a wide range of audiences, with viewing motivations becoming more varied and content increasingly segmented.

Lai Li, an analyst at Maoyan Entertainment, said that this summer's box office got off to a lukewarm start, but multiple films gained momentum in the second half of the period, with momentum continuing to build, ultimately delivering year-on-year growth in both box office revenue and admissions. Films of different genres and themes performed distinctively during the season, attracting diverse audiences to theaters and underscoring the driving role of quality content in boosting the overall market.

"These positive trends further prove that the market's stable growth consistently needs the boost of quality content," Lai said. "This is both the confidence driver for the continued prosperity of China's film market and the root of its resilience."

As the film market continues to evolve and adjust, industry professionals and audiences need to realign their pace and expectations with each other, he added.

Chinese cinemas were not only showing movies this summer, with the diversification of movie theater spaces accelerating. A livestreaming initiative led by China Media Group and co-organized by China Film Group and Huaxia Film Distribution put on more than 28,000 screenings across 255 cities in 31 provinces during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, cinema chains also hosted children's plays, concerts, shows and other performances with high occupancy rates, as well as table tennis and esports event broadcasts. In addition, the China Film Administration, local authorities and enterprises actively promoted movie-related cultural tourism to attract people to visit locations and film sets featured in blockbuster films.