Stephen Chow's "Kung Fu Soccer" topped China's 2026 summer box office, helping push the season's total takings to RMB12.498 billion ($1.86 billion), a 4.45% rise on the previous year and the second consecutive year of growth. The figures, published by Maoyan Research Institute in its Insight Report on 2026 Summer Box Office Film Data, cover 1 June to 31 August and reflect renewed cinema-going enthusiasm, with total admissions up 5.86% year-on-year to 340 million.

"Kung Fu Soccer" earned RMB2.315 billion ($344.4 million), ahead of "Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" ($290.2 million), animated hit "All Wishes Come True!" ($274.6 million), "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" ($228.9 million) and Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" ($89.7 million). Falling average ticket prices and a rising share of solo cinemagoers were noted trends, while all ten top-grossing films were built on existing intellectual property, and tier-one and South China cities recorded their strongest box office shares in six years. Maoyan analyst Lai Li said momentum built through the second half of the season, driven by a varied slate of genres that reinforced content quality as key to the market's stability.