Get the latest gossip

China Box Office Preview: Can 8 Films Deliver a $1 Billion Lunar New Year Sequel?


Eight new films go head-to-head at the mainland China box office over the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays.

At the macro level, China’s economy failed to rebound as strongly as had been hoped after COVID and is beset by a string of problems including the housing sector crisis (which weighs on saving and sentiment), high youth unemployment and strains on international trade. Pre-sales ticketing data suggests that the two theatrical frontrunners are: “Pegasus 2,” a car-racing comedy sequel to director and former racing driver Han Han’s 2019 hit of the same title, which pulled in $255 million; and “YOLO,” a warm-hearted comedy about appreciating oneself, reportedly adapted from the Japanese film “100 Yen Love.” “YOLO” is the second film by Jia Ling, the newcomer who touched millions of hearts with her time-travel tearjerker “Hi, Mom” at Chinese New Year in 2021. Tracking fourth, for now, is “ The Movie Emperor,” a satirical comedy in which Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau allows himself to be humiliated and pilloried in a dissection of celebrity in the digital age.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Variety