China’s economy continues to decline, with insufficient domestic consumption impacting various industries. The latest data shows that during the Qingming Festival period of April 4 to 6, 2026, there were a total of 1.442 million film screenings, setting a record for the highest number of screenings during the Qingming Festival, but the total box office revenue was only 300 million yuan, a 19% decrease compared to the previous year. Users who have seen films provided feedback that the attendance rate was very low.
According to professional data from Maoyan, as of 9 p.m. on April 6, the total number of viewers during the 2026 Qingming Festival was 7.947 million, with a total of 1.442 million screenings, an increase of 41,000 screenings compared to the previous year, setting a record for the most screenings during the Qingming Festival in Chinese film history. However, despite setting a record for the highest number of screenings, the total box office revenue was only 3.02 billion yuan, a 19% decrease compared to the 3.78 billion yuan box office revenue during the 2025 Qingming Festival. In comparison, the total box office revenue during the 2024 Qingming Festival was 8.42 billion yuan.
Guangdong Glurong Global Investment Research, based in Shenzhen, said that over the 3-day festival, with 3 billion yuan in box office revenue and over 20 films competing simultaneously, the daily box office revenues between April 4 and 6 were 109 million yuan, 117 million yuan, and 76 million yuan, respectively. The top three films at the box office were “Super Mario Galaxy The Movie,” “Me, Permit,” and “Rescue Plan.”
Glurong Global Investment Research stated that the Qingming Festival, as a key period following the Chinese New Year box office and leading up to the May Day box office, plays a transitional role in the film market in the first half of the year. However, overall, the box office performance during the Qingming Festival was not ideal. Looking at individual film box office earnings, the Qingming Festival presented a pattern of “headless, scattered” with no film breaking the billion yuan mark during the festival period.
China Business News reported that in comparison to the same period in previous years, excluding the years 2020 to 2022 affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the box office revenue level during the 2026 Qingming Festival showed a significant decline, falling below even the 3.69 billion yuan during the same period in 2014.
Netizens commented, “To be honest, there are quite a few worth watching films recently, but the box office results are still so dismal.” “I watched the first screening on Sunday morning, and it was like a private showing just for us.” “During my screening, there were only five people, and when I bought my ticket, there was only one person in one of the best seats in the middle, so I bought the seats next to them. Then a family of three came in, and that was it.” “Today, I contributed three tickets, there really weren’t many people.” “The Qingming Festival is so bleak.” “If this was before the pandemic, how much box office could it have generated?”