China's National Day Box Office Ends at 1.165 Billion Yuan as Cinema Capacity Outpaces Demand

Nearly 32 million admissions, but a smaller holiday market

China's cinemas earned 1.165 billion yuan during the October 1 to 7, 2026 National Day holiday, with 31.9959 million admissions, according to the China Film Administration. Crime drama Traces of Justice led with 423 million yuan, followed by comedy Mr. & Mrs. Pardon at 244 million yuan and the latest Resident Evil film at 174 million yuan.

The final total was about 36.5% below the 1.835 billion yuan recorded during the eight day holiday in 2025. A shorter break explains part of that decline, but not most of it: average daily revenue fell from approximately 229 million yuan to 166 million yuan, a drop of about 27.4%.

Every holiday day still brought in more than 100 million yuan. Cinemas also offered more screenings, while the number of participating venues and screens reached their highest levels for this holiday in six years. The central weakness was therefore not a shortage of places to watch films. It was insufficient demand to fill the expanded schedule.

The three leading titles collected 841 million yuan together, approximately 72.2% of the final total when calculated from their rounded grosses. None earned 500 million yuan within the holiday. Older summer releases continued drawing families, solo viewing reached a six year high, and northeastern cities gained market share even as national revenue contracted.

These contrasting results show why the holiday cannot be described simply as either a collapse in interest or a broad recovery. Individual films, regions and cinema operators found audiences, but their successes did not produce enough additional visits to sustain the wider market.

How the closing figures changed

The initially reported 1.151 billion yuan was a snapshot, not the completed holiday result. Beacon Professional recorded that amount, including presales, at 7:30 p.m. Beijing time on October 7, alongside 31.6318 million admissions, 3.2906 million screenings and an average ticket price of 36.4 yuan.

The Beijing government update cited a later Beacon reading of 1.156 billion yuan and 31.76 million admissions at 8:14 p.m. The China Film Administration's completed figures subsequently put revenue at 1.165 billion yuan and admissions just under 32 million.

• October 1: The seven day holiday began, with Traces of Justice taking the early lead.
• October 4, 8 p.m.: Holiday revenue including presales exceeded 700 million yuan, after four consecutive days above 100 million yuan.
• October 5: Resident Evil opened and helped daily revenue exceed 200 million yuan.
• October 6: Cumulative holiday revenue passed 1 billion yuan.
• October 7: Evening snapshots rose from 1.151 billion yuan to 1.156 billion yuan before the final tally reached 1.165 billion yuan.

Some closing reports give 1.164 billion yuan and 31.888 million admissions instead. One also places Resident Evil at 155 million yuan rather than the more widely reported 174 million yuan. Those differences are not fully explained. The administration's 1.165 billion yuan and 31.9959 million admissions provide the strongest basis for the national total.

The shorter calendar does not explain the decline

In 2025, National Day and the Mid Autumn Festival formed a combined eight day break. In 2026, Mid Autumn fell on September 25, outside the October 1 to 7 box office window. Comparing holiday totals without adjusting for duration therefore overstates the deterioration, but the daily comparison still shows a substantial fall.

The average ticket price was 36.41 yuan, down only 0.28 yuan from a year earlier. That small reduction, less than 1%, is far below the revenue decline. The results point mainly to fewer admissions rather than a large fall in the amount paid per ticket.

Revenue excluding ticketing service fees was reported at 1.032 billion yuan. This distinction matters when comparing the result with 2014, for which reports cite approximately 1.117 billion to 1.12 billion yuan under differing accounting descriptions. The 2026 headline total is close to that earlier level, but comparisons should identify whether fees are included.

Reports describe the result as the weakest in roughly 12 years. The more useful commercial measure is the combination of lower daily takings, almost unchanged ticket prices and expanded screening capacity. Together, those figures show that an extra holiday viewing opportunity did not reliably translate into an extra ticket sale.

Three leaders served different audiences

Traces of Justice, directed and co-written by Chen Sicheng, drew on the life and work of forensic specialist Cui Daozhi. Zhang Yi plays investigator Cui Xun, whose career follows the development of criminal investigation techniques across several decades. The film uses real case material and evidence such as fingerprints and bite marks to explain how investigators build a case from physical traces.

The production was adapted from documentary literature about Cui and developed under the guidance of the Ministry of Public Security's news and publicity bureau. Its cast also includes Ma Li and Chen Minghao. It led the daily box office for the first four holiday days and recorded a rise in daily takings during the period, rather than following a steady decline after opening.

Mr. & Mrs. Pardon, directed by Shen Chunyang and starring her alongside Xiao Shenyang, took a different route. Its married protagonists exchange bodies during a 30 day divorce cooling period, forcing each to experience the other's work and responsibilities. Its audience included particularly strong support in northeastern China and a high proportion of people attending together.

Maoyan Entertainment market analyst Lai Li attributed the steadier performance of the leading domestic films to their recognizable attractions:

The detective elements in 'Traces of Justice' and the comedic appeal of 'Mr. & Mrs. Pardon' both have a built-in audience, helping the films deliver relatively steady performances during the holiday.

Steady performance, however, was not enough to lift the entire holiday. Reported estimates for the leading three films' combined share range from 71.7% to 72.1%, while their rounded final grosses imply about 72.2%. The precise percentages differ, but the conclusion is consistent: most revenue went to three titles whose individual holiday totals remained relatively modest.

Resident Evil gave the final days a lift

The latest Resident Evil installment opened on October 5, leaving only three holiday days to earn its 174 million yuan. Its opening day brought in 75.837 million yuan, the strongest single film daily result of the period. It then led the daily chart on each of the remaining holiday days.

On opening day, it received 24.5% of screenings but generated 37.5% of box office revenue. Its revenue share was therefore about 1.53 times its screening share, indicating stronger takings per scheduled show than the market average that day. This is not an occupancy rate, because screen sizes and ticket prices also affect revenue.

Total market revenue on October 5 rose 22.9% from the preceding day to approximately 202 million yuan, the holiday's strongest daily result. Buyers younger than 30 accounted for 57% of the film's ticket purchasing audience. Its reported Douban score rose from 7.2 to 7.3, helping support interest among franchise followers and horror viewers.

The release demonstrates that fresh supply could still bring people into cinemas late in the break. It does not prove that opening earlier would have produced the same daily earnings across seven days. An earlier opening would also have changed competition, screening allocations and the pace of audience response.

Solo visits rose while families relied on older films

Maoyan Research Institute's holiday study put solo viewing at 25.7%, the highest share in six years, while outings involving multiple people fell to their lowest share over the same period. Viewers watched an average of 1.08 films, and the proportion seeing at least two titles declined.

These figures suggest that many customers selected one particular film rather than treating the holiday as an opportunity for several cinema trips. They also help explain how daily revenue could remain above 100 million yuan without producing a much larger cumulative total.

Summer releases continued to serve family audiences. The Chinese titles Huan Ying Lai Long Can Guan and Ba Xian, rendered here as Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant and Eight Immortals, earned approximately 55 million yuan and 51.66 million yuan during the holiday. Their combined 106.66 million yuan represented about 9.2% of the national total.

Beacon analyst Chen Jin said groups buying three or more tickets made up more than 21% of purchases for each film. Maoyan's study concluded that demand for films suitable for families had not been fully met by the new releases. Peppa Pig: Perfect Holiday attracted some less frequent viewers, but the continued strength of summer titles showed that older films remained important to family programming.

Reports differ in how they name one major summer holdover: English accounts list Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, while Chinese accounts list Huan Ying Lai Long Can Guan in the corresponding leading position. Without a confirmed title mapping, those names should not be treated as separate entries and their earnings added together.

Northeastern cities gained ground

Beacon figures cited by Beijing authorities put northeastern China's share at 7.8%, up from 5.3% in 2025. Later reports give 7.7%. East China's share similarly appears as 37.2% in the official Beijing update and 37.1% in later accounts. These small differences leave the regional pattern unchanged: East China remained the largest market, while the northeast gained weight.

North China accounted for 13.4%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points. The four leading tier one cities accounted for 15.64%, up 2.2 percentage points. Shanghai again ranked first among cities, followed by Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

The northeastern city rankings moved sharply. Harbin rose from 39th to 22nd, Shenyang from 25th to 14th, Dalian from 29th to 19th and Changchun from 33rd to 21st. Regional affinity helped Mr. & Mrs. Pardon, while Harbin was also a filming location for Traces of Justice.

A larger share of a smaller national market does not automatically mean regional revenue grew. Specific operator results provide firmer evidence of local growth: Wanda's 22 cinemas in Jilin reported 8.046 million yuan in combined box office, up 11.3%. Four entered the national top 100 cinema ranking, including Changchun's Motian Vitality City venue at ninth.

Subsidies and services produced local results

Jilin's holiday box office reached 21.0173 million yuan, with more than 50,000 screenings. Provincial movie vouchers were combined with Changchun's public viewing subsidy program, cinema promotions and reciprocal discounts involving museums, restaurants and other cultural venues. Mr. & Mrs. Pardon ranked first locally, ahead of Traces of Justice and Resident Evil.

In Hunan, 17 million yuan in movie vouchers had been issued during the year. Related cinema activities were reported to have attracted nearly 900,000 participants to prize draws and generated 246 million yuan in surrounding consumption. That spending is distinct from film ticket revenue and should not be counted as additional box office.

Lanzhou recorded 5.505 million yuan and 148,000 admissions. Its top three matched the national order, while Eight Immortals and Welcome to the Dragon Restaurant ranked fourth and fifth. This local ranking again shows the role of summer releases beyond the largest metropolitan markets.

Older viewers were another target. The Haidian government account described free screenings, half price tickets for eligible seniors, handwritten tickets with larger lettering and staff escorting customers to auditoriums across Capital Cinema's nine venues.

At its Dongsheng Science Park branch, an October 2 screening of the drama Huo Se Sheng Xiang used a specially prepared LED presentation for older audiences. The film, starring Yan Ni, Cecilia Yip and Ni Hongjie, focuses on women making new choices later in life. Its audience had a comparatively strong representation of people older than 40, although its national revenue remained far below the leading titles.

Cinemas expanded beyond film tickets

Maoyan counted 12,800 participating cinemas and 79,400 screens, both holiday highs for the past six years. Approximately 3.29 million screenings served just under 32 million admissions, equivalent to about 9.7 viewers per show. This average does not reveal seat occupancy, because auditorium capacities differ, but it shows how thinly admissions were spread across the schedule.

Operators responded with activities outside conventional screenings. Beijing cinemas offered food tastings, games, robot rides and free outdoor films on October 3 and 6. In Hangzhou, the WOODY WOOD cinema opened on October 1 with CINITY LED screens and nine themed spaces, including a performance area and film library.

Huaxia Film partnered with more than 100 cinemas to show live China Open tennis matches. In June, the China Film Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation had issued guidance containing 10 measures encouraging more varied cinema operations, including food, retail, entertainment and arts events.

The 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March also supported cultural programming. A film slate organized by the China Film Administration brought together more than 30 works. Beijing combined free daily screenings of Zhui Guang Zhe with historical exhibitions, a heritage market and virtual reality experiences. Guangzhou offered a month of free revolutionary history films, while Zhoukou organized public screenings for parents and children.

These activities widen the use of cinema buildings and may attract people who do not regularly buy film tickets. The national figures do not establish how much additional income they generated or whether that income compensated for weaker ticket sales.

Travel connections and the remaining annual gap

Tourism competed for holiday time, but it also created opportunities for film businesses. The National Day travel surge involved 826 million domestic trips and 738.375 billion yuan in spending. Daily trips rose 6.3% from 2025, while spending per trip fell 1.9% to 893.92 yuan. Travel grew on a daily basis as cinema revenue declined, though those figures alone cannot measure how many movie visits were displaced.

Some destinations joined the two activities. Yichun offered visitors holding scenic area tickets a 20% movie ticket discount. Shitanjing in Ningxia recreated film settings and food experiences; preliminary figures put average daily visitors during peak periods at 16 times the level before the relevant film's release. Leling Film Studio in Shandong promoted nearly 100,000 square meters of practical sets and close to 400 buildings as visitor attractions.

The larger financial challenge remained. National box office stood at 30.746 billion yuan on October 7. Matching 2025's full year total of 51.832 billion yuan would require another 21.086 billion yuan. By October 9 at 1 p.m., reported annual revenue was about 30.811 billion yuan, against 43.679 billion yuan at the comparable point in 2025, a gap of 12.868 billion yuan.

Maoyan projected eventual mainland totals of 670 million yuan for Traces of Justice, 550 million yuan for Resident Evil and 390 million yuan for Mr. & Mrs. Pardon. These were forecasts, not completed earnings. Chen Jin expected leading releases to support cinemas through the middle and latter part of October. A reported October 17 return for Three Kingdoms: The First Chapter, Contest for Luoyang offered another near term release opportunity.

The holiday's strongest evidence is that targeted films, regional discounts and more accessible services can attract customers. Whether those gains can extend beyond particular titles and cities is not yet established. The annual revenue gap is much larger than the additional takings projected for the three holiday leaders.

Key Points

• The China Film Administration recorded 1.165 billion yuan and 31.9959 million admissions for October 1 to 7.
• Total revenue fell about 36.5% from the longer 2025 holiday; average daily revenue fell about 27.4%.
• Traces of Justice, Mr. & Mrs. Pardon and Resident Evil earned approximately 72% of holiday revenue.
• Solo viewing reached 25.7%, while older summer releases continued attracting families.
• Expanded screenings averaged about 9.7 admissions each.
• Northeastern cities gained market share, and some Jilin cinema operators reported revenue growth.
• China needed another 21.086 billion yuan after October 7 to match its 2025 annual box office.