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Stephen Chow leads China's summer box office
Báo Tuổi Trẻ
08:40
Shaolin Women's Soccer, directed by Stephen Chow, topped the Chinese summer box office in 2026 with a revenue of 2.315 billion yuan (344.4 million USD).
Stephen Chow actively promotes Shaolin Women's Soccer to boost box office revenue - Photo: Weibo
According to Variety, the total summer box office revenue reached 12.498 billion yuan (1.86 billion USD), an increase of 4.45% compared to the same period last year, marking the second consecutive year of growth for the film market. These figures were released in a new report by the Maoyan Research Institute, the research division of Maoyan Entertainment.
The average ticket price continued to decline for the second consecutive year. According to Maoyan, this trend has made movie-going more accessible while attracting more audiences to theaters. Meanwhile, Southern China also recorded a record-high revenue contribution in six years, thanks to the appeal of films such as Shaolin Women's Soccer and Love Letter to Grandma...
The film Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, starring Shen Teng, ranked second for the summer with a revenue of 290.2 million USD. The Chinese animated film Eight Immortals! ranked third with 274.6 million USD, benefiting from its humor and content suitable for family audiences.
Eight Immortals! opens a new direction for Chinese animation - Photo: Weibo
Spider-Man: Brand New Day ranked fourth with 228.9 million USD, while Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey rounded out the top 5 with 89.7 million USD. This production recorded one of the highest revenue contribution rates from the IMAX system in recent years.
New IPs are also beginning to attract attention. Two horror films, Obsession and Backrooms, both directed by young filmmakers, achieved significantly high global box office revenue relative to their low production budgets. These results demonstrate a strong demand among young audiences for genre films with original concepts.
Spider-Man and The Odyssey caused a global sensation, temporarily quenching the "Hollywood cold spell" in China - Photo: IMDb
Lai Li, a market analyst at Maoyan Entertainment, noted that the second half of the summer film season created significant growth momentum, thereby boosting both box office revenue and ticket sales.
A variety of film genres brought audiences back to theaters thanks to their diverse appeal. This trend once again shows that content quality is the foundation for the film market to maintain stability and sustainable development in the long term.
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