It’s early in the year, but there’s already a new champion at the global box office for 2026, and it’s, frankly, not even close. What’s more, the crown is currently being worn by a sequel that the vast majority of people outside of China probably haven’t even heard of.
The Chinese rally racing action flick “Pegasus 3” made a massive $369.3 million from February 17 to 22, which is the lucrative Lunar New Year holiday frame in China (per Variety). Recall that China also gave us the biggest box office hit of 2025 with the animated “Ne Zha 2,” a film that made $2.25 billion worldwide. But while “Pegasus 3” isn’t likely to reach such high heights, it’s on pace to become another $1 billion movie and the latest example of China crafting homegrown hits bigger than almost anything Hollywood is churning out these days.
Case in point: The Lunar New Year additionally saw the thriller “Scare Out” do more than $110 million of business at the box office, while “Blades of the Guardians” brought in just shy of $100 million. Plus, the animated “Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector” was barely behind those with a take of nearly $90 million. All told, it was a rewarding holiday frame for movies made specifically for Chinese audiences and ultimately grossed $647.4 million in total.
Meanwhile, “Wuthering Heights” has become Hollywood’s highest-grossing hit of 2026 so far, having pulled in $152 million and counting to date, followed by the animated “GOAT” ($102 million). That’s not to say China is guaranteed to win the international box office crown again this year, but it does offer some eye-opening perspective.
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Pegasus 3 is just the latest massive Chinese blockbuster
The fact of the matter is what’s going on in China represents one of the biggest changes to the global box office in the pandemic era. The domestic box office was a big disappointment in 2025, failing to crack $9 billion overall. Pre-pandemic, those numbers were regularly and easily above $10 million, and that doesn’t even account for inflation.
Hollywood studios used to rely heavily on Chinese audiences to boost grosses for its movies. But Hollywood can no longer rely on China at the box office, and a big reason for that is because the country is increasingly favoring homegrown hits such as “Pegasus 3.” And this movie’s success shouldn’t come as a surprise: “Pegasus” made $255 million in 2019 and “Pegasus 2” made $423 million in 2024. These movies just don’t get talked about much in North America.
What’s interesting is that these big Chinese hits haven’t really crossed over into the U.S. yet. American audiences didn’t care about “Ne Zha 2” last year, so these success stories don’t do much to bolster domestic ticket sales. All the same, China has been building up a steady stream of hits dating back to the mid-2010s, with movies like “Wolf Warrior 2” ($870 million) and “The Wandering Earth” ($700 million) having quietly served as the precursors to what was to come.
On the one hand, China having a healthy theatrical marketplace goes a long way in bolstering the global box office in these uncertain times. On the other hand, it only means so much if those hits don’t travel around the world. What’s crystal clear, however, is that China itself is currently being served remarkably well by its approach.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
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