Chen Kaige’s The Volunteers: Peace at Last led the mainland box office over Oct. 10–12 with an estimated RMB34.9 million (about $4.8 million), as the market eased following the National Day holiday rush and rowing comedy Row to Win climbed into second place. The weekend’s softer pace reflected the comedown from an extended holiday corridor that front-loaded audience demand into the first week of October.
Peace at Last, the finale of the Volunteers war trilogy, continues to draw viewers with large-scale battle recreations and negotiation-table drama set during the Korean War. Its hold comes on the heels of a robust holiday period in which domestic titles dominated schedules nationwide and pushed seasonal totals well into the billions of yuan. Official tallies during the holiday window placed the period’s cumulative box office above RMB1.6 billion, underscoring the strength of local releases even as post-holiday weekdays trend lower.
Row to Win added momentum through the frame after building word of mouth during the holiday. The Ma Lin–directed film, starring Huang Bo and Fan Chengcheng, blends family comedy with an underdog sports plot about a coastal-town team attempting an unlikely turnaround, positioning it as counterprogramming to war epics and thrillers that anchored the holiday slate. Its shift into the runner-up spot signals resilient appetite for broad-audience comedies as schools and workplaces return to regular schedules.
Industry watchers are now tracking how session counts adjust as holiday holdovers cycle out and as fresh titles queue for late October. Peace at Last enters the post-holiday runway with established awareness from prior installments, while Row to Win benefits from accessible genre appeal and marquee leads. With weekend takings led by a returning franchise entry and a crowd-pleasing newcomer, exhibitors appear focused on maximizing evening shows and premium screens to sustain occupancy before the next wave of releases reshapes the chart.
