China's New Year's Day box office hits 740M yuan

Films screened during China's New Year's Day holiday brought in nearly 740 million yuan ($106 million) over three days, drawing 18.5 million moviegoers. Disney's "Zootopia 2" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash" dominated the holiday with sustained box office momentum.

Posters for the top four films during China's New Year's Day holiday. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Disney's "Zootopia 2" staged a surprise comeback, reclaiming the top spot during the holiday with 220 million yuan in ticket sales more than a month after its release. The animated sequel occupied 23.6% of nationwide screenings, reflecting strong demand for family-friendly entertainment.

The film's phenomenal performance in China has lifted its total to 4.24 billion yuan, putting it on track to surpass "Avengers: Endgame's" 2019 record of 4.25 billion yuan as China's highest-grossing imported film as early as Monday. The two films are the only ones to exceed $600 million in a single market outside the United States.

"Zootopia 2" has grossed nearly $1.59 billion worldwide, becoming Walt Disney Animation Studios' highest-grossing animated feature by surpassing "Frozen II." Its next target could be the record held by "Inside Out 2," the highest-grossing Hollywood animated film globally, from Disney's Pixar label.

James Cameron's "Avatar: Fire and Ash" demonstrated strong staying power on premium large-format screens, such as IMAX, grossing 183 million yuan during the holiday to rank second behind "Zootopia 2." Despite holding just 17.4% of nationwide screenings, it achieved the highest attendance rate, with its China total reaching 960 million yuan.

Cameron's films are known for their long box office runs due to high demand for premium-format viewing, and "Avatar: Fire and Ash" crossed $1 billion worldwide on Sunday, less than three weeks after its Dec. 19 debut. Whether it can reach $2 billion like its two predecessors remains to be seen. 

Still, it is already another triumph for Cameron — creator of "Titanic" and the "Avatar" franchise — who continues to remind audiences that the theatrical experience is irreplaceable.

The success of "Avatar: Fire and Ash" has made Cameron the first director in history to have four consecutive films earn more than $1 billion at the global box office. He is also the only filmmaker with three $2 billion grossing pictures to his name.

New Chinese releases — Sam Quah's "The Fire Raven" and Ng Yuen-fai and Lai Jan-lung's "Back to the Past" took third and fourth place on the holiday box office chart, grossing 126 million yuan and 116 million yuan, respectively.

"The Fire Raven" is a crime thriller following Quah's formula from the 2024 hit "A Place Called Silence." "Back to the Past" is a sequel to the classic 2001 TV series "A Step into the Past," starring original cast members including Louis Koo, Raymond Lam and Jessica Hsuan.

The top four films on the holiday box office chart accounted for 87.2% of total holiday revenue, according to Maoyan, the ticketing platform and box office tracker.

The new Hollywood animated release "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Square Pants" grossed 26.8 million yuan to take fifth place.

Shen Ao's "Escape from the Outland" took sixth place with just 23.3 million yuan — a disappointing result given that it holds the highest user score among new releases on review aggregation site Douban at 7.6/10, and that Shen's previous two films, "No More Bets" (2023) and "Dead to Rights" (2025), each grossed over 3 billion yuan.

Li Taiyan's "Unexpected Family," a Jackie Chan film without his signature kung fu, grossed just 21.96 million yuan during the holiday to take seventh place. In the film, Chan, 71, plays an older man with Alzheimer's disease, a performance that has drawn praise from critics and fans as he seeks to prove himself as a serious actor.

Lai Li, an analyst at Maoyan, told China.org.cn that the overall performance of the 2026 New Year's Day holiday box office exceeded expectations, marking a strong start to the year. However, he noted that new releases underperformed, with holdovers driving most of the revenue.

"The long box office legs of 'Zootopia 2' and 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' demonstrate that audience demand for high-quality content remains consistent," he said. "However, the market as a whole still needs stimulation and momentum driven by new releases. The key to sustaining market vitality lies in continuously creating compelling, fresh content that caters to diverse audience preferences while maintaining both artistic quality and commercial appeal."