BEIJING — China's 2021 box office has reached around 3.5 billion yuan ($540 million) as the competitive Spring Festival holiday moviegoing season draws near.

Comedy film "Big Red Envelope," released on Jan 22, continued to lead the daily box office chart on Feb 4 though the market's total earnings for the day fell short of 40 million yuan, according to the China Movie Data Information Network.

Action thriller "Shock Wave 2" and drama "A Little Red Flower," both released late in December 2020, continued outstanding performance in the market, securing their places among the daily top-three earners.

The box office revenue of "Shock Wave 2" has exceeded 1.2 billion yuan while that of "A Little Red Flower" is getting closer to the 1.4 billion yuan mark.

The three movies are expected to continue leading the market where there are currently almost no major titles on the releasing schedule in the run-up to the week-long Spring Festival holiday starting on Feb 11.

Spring Festival, the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 12 this year, alone will see the release of seven major titles, including "Detective Chinatown 3," the newest installment in the well-received "Detective Chinatown" comedy film franchise.

Advance ticket sales for the holiday have exceeded 300 million yuan, with "Detective Chinatown 3" topping the chart with more than 200 million yuan, showed figures compiled by film data platform Maoyan.

The other six films to be released on the same day are time travel comedy "Hi, Mom," fantasy thriller "A Writer's Odyssey," mobile game turned fantasy film "The Yinyang Master," comedy-drama "Endgame," animated fantasy "New Gods: Nezha Reborn," and "Boonie Bears: The Wild Life," the latest installment in the domestic animated comedy franchise.