China's box office revenue from film screenings during the seven days of the Spring Festival holiday totaled 3.627 billion yuan (US$556.38 million), higher than any previous holiday, the film authority said.

Revenue from Feb 8 to 14 increased by 78.5 percent over the same period of last year, according to a statement from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

Three Chinese film giants contributed more than 90 percent of the figure. "Mermaid," directed by Hong Kong comedian and director Stephen Chow, led with 1.79 billion yuan (US$274.58 million).

The comedy-action thriller "The Man from Macao III," starring Hong Kong actors Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau, was a respectable no.2, earning about 775.6 million yuan (US$119 million) after opening on Feb. 8, China Film News reported on Thursday.

"The Man from Macao III," was closely followed by "The Monkey King 2," which earned 759.6 million yuan (US$116.5 million) in the seven days. The comedy-fantasy was also released on Feb. 8.

Fourth place went to animated comedy "Kung Fu Panda 3," with 154.1 million yuan (US$23.63 million). The film was supposed to gross as high as more than 2 billion yuan due to DreamWorks Animation's close collaboration with Chinese partners as well as rave reviews. Itsuffered a huge cut in screenings during the festival. By the end of the week, the filmhad pulled in more than 831.6 million yuan (US$127.56 million) since its debut on Jan. 29, well below expectations. However, experts insist it will surely become the highest grossing animated feature ever in the China market.

"Mermaid" along with "The Man from Macao III," "The Monkey King 2" and other minor films also helped Chinese box office break the world record for the most lucrative week ever with US$556.38 million from Feb.8 to 14.

The previous record was set during the week of Dec. 26, 2015 to Jan. 1, 2016 when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" led the box office with US$261 million out of total revenue for the week of US$529.6 million.

As the Golden Week of Spring Festival ended on Valentine's Day, "Mermaid" alone proclaimed it has grossed more than 300 million yuan (US$46.02 million) on its seventh day since its release thanks to a lovers' day theater rush, which is even more than its opening day and creating a new single day box office record for any Chinese film.

A total of 99.32 million admissions were recorded during the record smashing week.

A survey by the China Film Art Research Center and EntGroup shows that audiences gave a satisfying score of 81.4 for films screened in the Spring Festival season, compared to last year’s 80.3). The survey was carried out in nine major cities.

However, China Film Copyright Association together with distributors of "Mermaid," "The Man from Macao III," and "The Monkey King 2" released a statement on Feb. 18,claiming they had found more than 1,000 pirated download links of the three movies on the Internet. There were also reports that some theaters "stole" and didn't report box office revenue of certain films to national tracking system.

China's box office returns reached about 44 billion yuan in 2015, up 48.7 percent over 2014, while the number of film-goers totaled 1.26 billion throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 51.08 percent.

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