BEIJING – Bona Film Group’s historical war epic “Crossing” secured the top position at the mainland China box office for the weekend of June 26-28, opening with RMB 79.3 million ($11.7 million), according to Artisan Gateway data.
The result occurs within a period of significant market contraction for the region. Mainland China’s year-to-date revenue for 2026 currently stands at $2.54 billion, a 40.5% decrease compared to the same period in 2025, underscoring the pressure on studios and exhibitors operating under the regulatory framework overseen by the National Radio and Television Administration and other state film authorities.
Domestic Historical and Adaptation Releases
“Crossing,” directed by Xu Zhanxiong, commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Long March and focuses on the Battle of Chishui River. The production features Liu Ye in the role of Mao Zedong and Wang Lei as Zhou Enlai, with supporting performances by Yu Shi and Wang Zhifei. The film’s cumulative total has reached $12.8 million, positioning it as the weekend’s leading local title but still modest by the standards of previous years’ patriotic war epics.
The film’s subject matter aligns with a long-running policy emphasis on “main melody” content that revisits foundational moments in Communist Party history, keeping major historical commemorations visible in mainstream commercial cinemas. That alignment may help sustain screen share for domestic historical dramas even as the overall market contracts.
In fifth place, Damai Entertainment’s “I Know Who You Are” earned $2.6 million, bringing its cumulative gross to $14.6 million. Directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Lei Jiayin and Hu Ge, the film is an adaptation of a novella by Zhang Ce. The plot centers on a psychological conflict between a police officer and a schoolteacher suspected of being a sleeper agent, tapping into contemporary appetite for grounded suspense narratives rather than spectacle-driven blockbusters.
International and Independent Performance
Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” fell to second place in its second weekend of release. The film earned $7.4 million, increasing its cumulative total to $29.6 million. The relatively steep drop from the top spot, alongside the overall revenue slowdown, highlights the more cautious post-pandemic spending patterns among Chinese cinemagoers and the tighter import environment foreign studios must navigate under China’s quota and content-approval system.
A24’s psychological horror feature “Backrooms” debuted in third place, recording $5.3 million during its opening frame. The film’s performance signals that smaller-scale imported genre titles can still carve out space in a market dominated by domestic releases and a limited slate of foreign approvals, provided they connect with younger urban audiences.
Regional and Dialect Cinema
Jinant Film & TV’s “Dear You” maintained a presence in the top five, placing fourth with $4.8 million in its ninth weekend. The Teochew-dialect family drama, directed by Lan Hongchun and starring Li Sitong, Wang Yantong, and Wu Shaoqing, has accumulated a lifetime total of $281.8 million since its April 30 launch.
The narrative focuses on a Chaoshan matriarch and the qiaopi tradition of cross-border remittance letters, following a grandson’s journey to Thailand to locate his grandfather. Its sustained run underscores the commercial potential of regionally rooted storytelling, even as Beijing promotes standardized Mandarin for most official and educational uses through frameworks such as the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language. For exhibitors, the success of “Dear You” offers a counterweight to the downturn by demonstrating that lower-budget, dialect-rich productions can deliver long-tail revenues.
Overall weekend grosses for mainland China reached $38.3 million, with the top five titles accounting for the bulk of ticket sales. The 2026 year-to-date revenue for the mainland China theatrical market stands at $2.54 billion, reinforcing concerns among industry stakeholders and policymakers that the world’s second-largest box office is entering a more volatile, lower-growth phase even as the release pipeline remains heavily managed and strategically curated.