A Re-Release of Avengers: Endgame Tops China's Mid-Autumn Box Office

China’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday box office had an unusual champion this year: a movie that first came out in 2019. According to the ticketing platform Maoyan, a special extended edition of “Avengers: Endgame” — billed in China as the “Extra-Loaded Premium Edition” — collected 83.38 million yuan (about 11.7 million US dollars) during the holiday period, making it the top earner of the 2026 Mid-Autumn frame.

The holiday’s total box office reached 269 million yuan as of 9 p.m. on September 27, according to the same data. Mid-Autumn, a festival built around family reunions and mooncakes, is one of China’s shorter moviegoing windows, sitting between the crowded summer season and the week-long National Day holiday that begins October 1. That timing makes it a useful test run for films hoping to build momentum into the bigger October frame.

The winning edition of “Endgame” is the same 181-minute film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, that became a global phenomenon in 2019. Its re-release in China carries a Douban score of 8.5, a strong rating on the country’s most influential review site, where Hollywood spectacle and emotional payoff tend to be rewarded. Re-releases of proven hits have become a familiar tool for Chinese cinemas in recent years, filling calendar gaps with titles that already have built-in audiences.

Around the imported champion, the rest of the chart was dominated by Chinese productions. “Kong Qiang” (“Empty Gun”), a 160-minute crime drama directed by Han Yan and starring Zhu Yilong, Tan Jianci and Tony Leung Ka-fai, holds a 7.2 rating. “Ba Xian!” (“Eight Immortals!”), an animated feature drawing on Chinese folklore, scored a notably high 8.2. “Nian Hui Bu Neng Ting! 2,” the sequel to a popular workplace comedy about a company’s chaotic annual gala, returned with a new cast including Zhang Ruoyun and Bai Ke, and sits at 6.6.

The slate also shows how wide China’s theatrical menu has become. There is horror in “Si Wang Jin Qu Shi Lu” (“Death Zone Chronicles”), a mainland production rated just 4.6. There is the star-driven drama “Ning Zhi Shou,” directed by the veteran Hu Mei. There is the comedy “Yi Lu Chao Ping An” with Qiao Shan and Chang Yuan, and the cross-border suspense film “Nu Zhi Sha” starring Jason Statham. Older classics remain in circulation too, including “The Shawshank Redemption” at 9.7 and Pixar’s “WALL-E” at 9.3 — both reminders that Chinese audiences still turn out for well-loved imports.

For Hollywood, the holiday result offers a modest but real signal. Imported films no longer dominate Chinese charts the way they did a decade ago, and local productions regularly outgross them. Yet a 2019 Marvel title, repackaged and re-released, still managed to lead a holiday frame. That suggests the appetite for large-scale, emotionally satisfying event movies has not faded — it has simply become more selective.

For Chinese exhibitors, the more important number may be the 269 million yuan total. Holiday box office has become increasingly concentrated in a handful of major windows, and cinemas are leaning on a mix of new local titles, re-releases and imports to keep screens busy. The coming National Day holiday, with its longer break and bigger releases, will be the real measure of whether this autumn’s momentum carries forward.

Either way, the Mid-Autumn chart tells a familiar story: Chinese audiences are willing to pay for spectacle, nostalgia and a familiar hero — even one they have already said goodbye to once.