The Chinese mainland set a new daily box office record exceeding 1.74 billion yuan (about $270 million) on Chinese New Year's Day, the second day of the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, data from ticketing platform Maoyan showed on Friday. 

The previous record of 1.46 billion yuan was set during the 2019 festival. The receipts include presales.

Altogether seven films, all domestically made, premiered on Friday as the country ushered in the Year of the Ox. Comedy film "Detective Chinatown 3" made it to the top of the box office charts, raking in 1.05 billion yuan. 

The highly anticipated film from Wanda Pictures accounted for three-fifths of the total earnings. It was originally set to be released during the same holiday a year ago but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Time travel comedy "Hi, Mom" took the second spot garnering 299 million yuan, followed by fantasy thriller "A Writer's Odyssey," mobile game-turned-fantasy film "The Yinyang Master" and the animated film "Boonie Bears: The Wild Life," according to Maoyan.

The Spring Festival is one of the peak seasons for movie ticket sales in China. The domestic box office has seen fast growth in 2021, with the first day of the year recording record earnings. As of 8 a.m. on Saturday, the total box office revenue this year exceeded 6.2 billion yuan, according to Maoyan.

(Cover image: A poster for the Chinese comedy film "Detective Chinatown 3" is seen at a movie theater in Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province, February 10, 2021. /CFP)

(With input from Xinhua)

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