China's box office on Qingming holiday sets 125-mln-USD record

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China's box office revenue during the three-day Tomb-sweeping Day holiday ending on Monday hit a record high of 821 million yuan (about 125 million U.S. dollars).

The figure surpassed the box office revenue of 698 million yuan generated during the same holiday in 2019, data compiled by box office tracker Maoyan showed.

Domestic drama "Sister" from emerging director Yin Ruoxin, which was released on Friday, led the box office chart for the holiday, contributing 378 million yuan or 46 percent to the total.

U.S. film "Godzilla vs Kong" grabbed the second spot with an earning of 299 million yuan, accounting for 36.4 percent.

Chinese animated fantasy "Monkey King Reborn," hitting theaters on the same day with "Sister," was placed third on the chart with a revenue of 55.5 million yuan.

The latest holiday gains drove China's 2021 box office total to exceed 19.1 billion yuan as of Monday, according to data from the China Movie Data Information Network.

Tomb-sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, was observed on April 4 this year. It is a traditional day for people to pay tribute to deceased family members, worship ancestors and go on spring outings.