Poster: China's Spring Festival box office softens to 5.75 bln yuan as "Pegasus 3" triumphs

China's film market registered 5.75 billion yuan (about 829 million U.S. dollars) in ticket sales during the nine-day Spring Festival holiday that ended on Feb. 23, China Film Administration data showed on Tuesday. The lucrative cinematic window demonstrated its enduring pull despite the absence of a breakout blockbuster on the scale of last year's "Ne Zha 2."

"Pegasus 3," the third installment in director Han Han's racing comedy franchise starring Shen Teng, emerged as the highest-grossing film of the holiday box office season with 2.93 billion yuan in ticket sales.

The first two films in the series were released during the 2019 and 2024 Spring Festival seasons, grossing a combined 5 billion yuan. "Pegasus 3" contributed more than half of the holiday box office total and set a new opening-day record for the series, raking in 641 million yuan on Feb. 17, the first day of the Year of the Horse.