A woman walks past movie posters at a movie theater in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2025. (Photo by Su Yang/Xinhua

With a 30-day countdown to the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, China's film market is gearing up for its longest-ever Chinese New Year box-office season, which is expected to inject strong momentum into the country's film industry.

According to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, so far two major films have officially confirmed their release dates for the holiday season: Pegasus 3 and Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector.

Pegasus 3, the latest sequel to the popular racing film franchise, has inherited a solid fan base from its predecessors. The first Pegasus grossed 1.728 billion yuan ($248 million), while the second installment raked in 3.361 billion yuan during their respective Spring Festival releases, establishing the series as a reliable crowd-pleaser.

Meanwhile, Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector, the 12th film in the beloved animated franchise, was announced on Thursday with a teaser trailer and poster. A staple of the Spring Festival box office, the family-friendly series has maintained a stable audience, perfectly aligning with the holiday's emphasis on family gatherings.

Industry insiders predict that more high-profile films are likely to join the lineup, including Panda Plan 2, starring Jackie Chan, Silent Awakening and Blades of the Guardians. 

Among them, Silent Awakening, directed by renowned filmmaker Zhang Yimou and starring Jackson Yee, marks the director's first foray into national security-themed works with an all-star cast. 

Blades of the Guardians, a martial arts epic helmed by Yuen Woo-ping and featuring A-listers such as Wu Jing, Jet Li and Nicholas Tse, is an adaptation of a popular IP. It has attracted a lot of attention of Chinese moviegoers.

Speaking to the Global Times on Sunday, Lai Li, a film analyst, noted that the 2025 Spring Festival box office was dominated by Ne Zha 2, which grossed 4.8 billion yuan during its theatrical run, representing half of the total Spring Festival season earnings that year.

"Such an outstanding performance is the result of multiple favorable factors and is difficult to replicate," Lai said.

Compared with the 2025 Spring Festival season, when major films like Boonie Bears: Future Reborn and Creation of The Gods II: Demon Forces Demon respectively locked in their release dates 93 and 92 days in advance, confirmations for the 2026 film season have slowed down. 

Film industry experts attribute the delayed confirmations to multiple factors, including studios' prudent release strategies following the frequent schedule adjustments that affected box office returns in 2025, as well as complicated changes in public taste. 

"Studios are more cautious as any potential flaws in themes, casts or promotions may be magnified online," Shi Wenxue, a veteran film critic based in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Additionally, heading to the movies is a popular choice during the Spring Festival holiday, which means late confirmations can still achieve remarkable results, he added.

There have been previous instances where a mismatch between subject matter and release timing negatively impacted box-office performance. For example, the war film Operation ­Hadal, released during 2025 Spring Festival season, earned only 275 million yuan during its theatrical run, with a total box office of 393 million yuan. This also led to financial losses for its primary producer, the Bona Film Group. 

Hollywood films Avatar: Fire and Ash and Zootopia 2 will extend their theatrical runs through key extensions to cover the entire Spring Festival holiday. 

According to Shi's analysis, the move will enrich the viewing options for audiences, especially family viewers, and fill the gap in the new film supply. 

However, since they have been out for a while by now, this means they are expected to play a supplementary role rather than become box-office leaders amid the influx of new domestic films.