Berlin Controversy; Lunar New Year Box Office In China, Korea & Vietnam

Liz Shackleton

25 Feb 2026 — 10 min read

Pegasus 3

Before digging into the Lunar New Year box office, a few words on the political controversy at this year’s Berlinale. Much has already been written on this subject by just about every trade, national paper and social media account – so I’m just referring to an edition of Streamlined published before last year’s Venice and Toronto film festivals that deals with the same issues.

Of course the anger is understandable; the world is in pain, horrifying injustices are happening in multiple countries, and the structures we thought we had in place to tackle these injustices are collapsing at an alarming rate. But the media, and particularly social media, are these days driven by sound bites and clickbait, not by nuanced debate. While we believe we’re raising awareness for important issues, our rage is being commodified and used against us to feed the algorithm exactly what it wants. Whatever Berlinale jury president Wim Wenders did or didn’t say at that press conference – it was always going to be a win for the tech billionaires who own the social media platforms, not for the Palestinian people.

So it was a relief to hear the words of Golden Bear winner İlker Çatak as he accepted his award on Berlinale's closing night. He said he’d prepared a political speech but chose not to read it because “so many smart people have said so many smart things and I want to leave the stage to the wonderful people that I made this film with.”

He also said there’s a scene in his film that reminded him of what had been happening in Berlin this year: “Filmmakers against other filmmakers, artists against creatives. But we are not enemies. We are allies. The real threat is not among us. It’s the autocrats. It’s the right-wing parties. It’s the nihilists of our time who try to come to power and destroy our way of living.”

Amen to that. They want us to be divided, they want us to tear down cultural institutions, they want us to reduce every complex issue to a simple case of black or white. But at a time like this, the biggest lesson we can take away from this year’s Berlinale, is that this is a time for us to stand together and fight.

**İlker Çatak receives Berlin's Golden Bear for 'Yellow Letters'**

Mixed Fortunes in China, Hong Kong & Taiwan

Mainland China’s combined box office hit $832m (RMB5.75bn) over the Lunar New Year holiday period (February 15-23), according to figures from Maoyan Entertainment, with Han Han’s racing drama Pegasus 3 pulling ahead of the pack with $420m (RMB2.9bn). As a result, box office for the year to date has reached $1.08bn, according to Artisan Gateway figures, propelling China ahead of North America as the largest market in the world.

But Artisan Gateway also estimates that the China market is down a whopping 65% compared to the same point last year when animated film Ne Zha 2 was on its way to grossing a record-breaking $2bn plus.

And while Pegasus 3 is having a decent if not spectacular run – the film is forecast to end on $622m (RMB4.3bn) – the other Lunar New Year releases are trailing quite far behind. Zhang Yimou’s spy thriller Scare Out ranks second with $125.5m (RMB867m) over the eight-day holiday period; Yuen Woo-ping’s martial arts drama Blades Of The Guardians came in third with $117m (RMB806m); and Fantawild’s Boonie Bears: The Hidden Protector, the latest installment in a long-running holiday franchise, ranked fourth with $103m (RMB713m).

Jackie Chan starrer Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe, directed by Derek Hui, has grossed around $30m since its Feb 17 release, and at the time of writing was slipping in the real-time rankings behind Hong Kong comedy Night King, directed by Jack Ng, which opened on Feb 20 and has grossed $12m to date. Han Yan’s sci-fi thriller Per Aspera Ad Astra, released on Feb 17, is also currently on around $12m.

Maoyan also noted that third and fourth-tier cities accounted for nearly 60% of the holiday period’s box office, the highest level in the past six years. At the same time, average ticket prices fell to the lowest level in recent years, with prices in third and fourth tier cities down by 6% year-on-year.

While the figures aren’t exactly a washout – and it may be unfair to compare them to last year’s exceptional Lunar New Year box office, driven by the phenomenon that was Ne Zha 2 – it does mean that the market has a lot of catching up to do to overtake the 2025 year-end tally of $7.5bn (RMB51.83bn). And looking ahead, there’s not a huge amount in the pipeline from China’s production studios, for reasons that Streamlined will elaborate on in future editions.

Meanwhile, both Hong Kong and Taiwan had reasons to celebrate over the holidays. In Hong Kong, overall revenues for the four-day holiday period (Feb 16-19) increased by 53% year-on-year to $5m (HK$39.7m), according to Hong Kong Box Office, with Edko Films’ Night King topping the box office with $3.4m (HK$26.7m) over the four days. Other films on release included Philip Yung’s gambling comedy The Snowball On A Sunny Day, Blades Of The Guardian and holdover Back To The Past.

In Taiwan, Sunshine Women’s Choir, released on December 31, 2025, continued its reign at the top of the box office, pulling in an additional $2.4m (NT$75.4m) over the holiday week (Feb 16-22), according to Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute. Directed by Gavin Lin, the heartwarming drama set in a women’s prison has become the highest-grossing Taiwanese film of all time with a gross of $19m (NT$600m) to date, overtaking the record set by Wei Te-sheng’s Cape No. 7 in 2008.

The two films released to coincide with Lunar New Year – Giddens Ko’s action fantasy Kung Fu and Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu’s comedy drama Double Happiness – were no match for the ladies of Sunshine Women’s Choir, taking $1.12m (NT$35.4m) and $850,000 (NT$26.8m) respectively between Feb 16-22.

Tran Thanh's 'Little Rabbit' Tops Vietnam's Tet Box Office

Tran Thanh once again ruled Vietnam’s box office over the Tet Lunar New Year holiday period, with psychological drama Little Rabbit (Thỏ ơi!!) grossing $8.5m (VND220.8bn) during the period February 17-22 and reaching $11m (VND289bn) as of today.

Produced by Vietnam’s Galaxy Studio, the film broaches adult themes and has an 18+ rating, so is not the usual light-hearted family fare released during key holiday periods. The story revolves around a talk show where guests discuss their views on love, marriage and relationships. One day a girl wearing a rabbit mask participates in the show, revealing that she was threatened and psychologically manipulated by her partner.

Tran’s Tet 2024 release Mai, a family drama produced by CJ HK Entertainment, grossed $20m, while last year’s The 4 Rascals, produced by Galaxy Studio, ended up on around $13m. While Mai delved into social and multi-generational issues, and also had an 18+ rating, it wasn’t quite as bold as Little Rabbit.

Among other releases, Truong Giang’s family drama A Room Called Home has grossed $3.5m (VND90.77bn) as of today, according to Box Office Vietnam, while Le Thanh Son’s comedy A Gift From Heaven is on $2.3m (VND60.27bn) and Minh Beta’s food-themed family drama Scent Of Pho has taken $1.26m (VND32.95bn) to date.

Vietnam remains one of the box office bright spots in the region – revenues surpassed pre-pandemic levels in 2024 – and CJ CGV chief content officer Nguyen Hoang Hai told local press he expects total revenues for the holiday period to increase by 20-25% compared to last year.

But local press also observed that the market is becoming way too dependent on Tet, rushing films out to meet demand over this holiday period, sometimes compromising on quality, and that releases could be spread more evenly across the rest of the year. Of course, this has long been the problem with the mainland China market, indeed most markets in Asia have one or two holiday periods that account for a disproportionate share of annual box office returns. In most cases, there's usually only one winner and a bunch of films that will struggle to recoup.

'The King's Warden' Bring Cheers Back To Korean Box Office

As in Taiwan, South Korea had a strong box office performer over Lunar New Year, which was also a holdover rather than the films released to coincide with the holiday period. Historical drama The King’s Warden, directed by Jang Hang-jun and starring former K-pop idol Park Ji-hoon and character actor Yoo Hae-jin, topped the box office with 1.41 million admissions over the three-day holiday weekend.

Released on Feb 4, the film has drawn more than 6 million admissions to date, sparking hopes that it might become the first film since 2024 to join the 10 million admissions club, although it will need extremely long legs to get there.

Based on the real but dramatised story of an exiled boy king and the village chief tasked with watching over him, the film has been praised by critics and audiences, even notoriously hard-to-please Gen Z females who have been swooning over Park Ji-hoon’s “expressive gaze”. The film has also sparked a trend of fans leaving witty comments on map apps at historical sites related to the two main characters.

Overall, Korean theatres drew 3.23 million admissions over the holidays, according to the Korean Film Council, an improvement on last year, but still some way below pre-pandemic levels when admissions for this period would sail past 5 million.

As in other markets, the other films on release during the holiday period were some way behind the box office leader. Ryoo Seung-wan’s spy thriller Humint, starring Zo In-sung, Park Jung-min and Shin Se-kyung, has so far drawn 1.6 million admissions since its Feb 11 release. Number One, reuniting Parasite stars Choi Woo-shik and Jang Hye-jin, also released on Feb 11, is on around 245,000 admissions.

On the other hand, two films released on December 31, 2025 – romance Once We Were Us and musical drama Choir Of God – are still playing at the Korean box office, pulling in 2.46 million and 1.33 million admissions, respectively, to date.

Once We Were Us, a remake of Chinese hit Us And Them, has been praised for its emotional depth, while Choir Of God is the imaginative story of a North Korean security officer who forms a fake Christian choir to secure $200m in foreign aid. All of which suggests that Korean audiences are perhaps these days more interested in novelty and authenticity than big-budget spectacle – again a trend that’s being played out all over the world.

Subscribe now

IN THE TRADES:

Berlin Controversy; Lunar New Year Box Office In China, Korea & Vietnam

Liz Shackleton

Mixed Fortunes in China, Hong Kong & Taiwan

Tran Thanh's 'Little Rabbit' Tops Vietnam's Tet Box Office

'The King's Warden' Bring Cheers Back To Korean Box Office

IN THE TRADES:

AWARDS SEASON:

LAB & FUNDING NEWS:

PRODUCTION NEWS:

CORPORATE:

CANCELLED:

CURATED:

RELEASED:

SOLD:

STREAMING UPDATES:

Read more

‘Yellow Letters’ Wins Golden Bear At Politically Charged Berlin Film Festival

CHINA RELEASE SCHEDULE: Imports & Co-Productions Feb-March 2026

Streamlined Guides: Updates To Philippines Market

Goldmines: The Biggest Indian Streamer You’ve Never Heard Of