Cold War 1994 Photo: Courtesy of Douban

With pre-sales and advanced screenings surpassing 28 million yuan ($4.09 million) on Monday, four days before the May Day holidays officially kick off, the May Day box office has now entered its final warm-up phase. Featuring productions including comedy, crime, and more, "genre diversity" is one of the biggest highlights of the 2026 holiday period, Shi Wenxue, a veteran film critic, told the Global Times.  

The upcoming May Day cinema slate is considered as the "most crowded" as a total of 18 films are set to be released during this period, 50 percent higher than the same period in 2025.  

So far, the most anticipated films include Cold War 1994, Being Towards Death, Vanishing Point, Dear You, GG Bond: Race Through Time and the US film The Devil Wears Prada 2. These films traverse genres such as crime thrillers, comedic dramas, suspense thrillers, realist film, animation and more. Among them, Cold War 1994 is seen as possessing relatively greater "box-office potential," film market analyst Lai Li told the Global Times.

Helmed by Hong Kong director Leung Lok-man and featuring stellar actor Daniel Wu, Cold War 1994, set in Hong Kong in the 1990s, revolves around a power struggle triggered by the kidnapping of a wealthy businessman. This film is the third installment in the Cold War franchise.

"From production to the cast and crew, this film is a relatively 'heavyweight' entry among the new films releasing during the May Day box office period. Coupled with the strong performance of the first two installments, this will be an important contender for this year," Lai told the Global Times. Previously, the first two films achieved a total box-office revenue of 900 million yuan in the Chinese mainland.

Also featuring crime suspense elements is Vanishing Point, directed by Cheng Wei-hao, a director from China's Taiwan island. Noting that this film could become a "dark horse" of the May Day box office, Lai told the Global Times that the biggest reason is that "the director has consistently delivered strong performances in this specific genre." "This could potentially raise audiences' confidence in choosing the film." 

Besides suspense films, several domestic horror movies have also crowded into the holiday slot. Two of them are Blood Embroidered Shoe and Ancient House Embroidered Shoes. Both films are highly similar in terms of subject matter and are original IP adaptations.

"This high degree of similarity is likely to result in audience diversion, which poses a significant challenge to each films' performances," Shi remarked.

Other than domestic productions, the holiday film slate is also adorned with the imported film The Devil Wears Prada 2. The movie has currently garnered overwhelming anticipation from nearly 80 percent of female audiences. A full 20 years have passed since the release of the first The Devil Wears Prada film, which has quietly transformed into a women's empowerment IP.

"The nostalgia factor, along with the film's strong resonance with female audiences, is its biggest selling point - not to mention the main cast's promotional tour in China not long ago," said Lai, adding that "due to the controversies that emerged prior to its release make its ultimate box-office performance difficult to predict." Before hitting theaters, the film had already sparked debate over the name of the Asian character "Jin Chao" in the new trailer. "Jin Chao" sounds very similar to the Chinese phrase "zhen chou," which means "really ugly."

To adapt to the holiday season's family vibe, theaters will also debuted family-oriented films such as GG Bond: Race Through Time as well as family-oriented movies like Dear You. Dear You tells the story of a man traveling to Thailand with his grandmother's cherished letter in search of his grandfather who has been missing for 40 years.

"Watching movies for me is more like a form of family gathering, so I hope to watch some warm, lighthearted, fun and touching films like this with my family," Cheng Yue, a moviegoer in Chongqing, told the Global Times. Other than Dear You, Being Towards Death, a film that depicts the bittersweet daily life inside of a hospital, has also become one of the most anticipated films among audiences.

Looking over the films being released during this year's May Day holiday box office, there doesn't seem to be a particularly dominant blockbuster leading the pack. Most of them are mid-tier films, but the advantage lies in the range of choices available to audiences, Lai told the Global Times. 

"This year's May Day box office is a critical battle following the market's mediocre performance in the first half of the year. Surpassing 2025's results and reaching the new milestone of 10 billion yuan has become the mainstream industry forecast," Shi added.