BEIJING -- The 2024 Spring Festival box office in China has roared past 3.5 billion yuan ($492.7 million) within the holiday's initial three days, marking a year-on-year increase of nearly 17 percent.

Running from Feb 10 to 17 this year, the Spring Festival period traditionally serves as a lucrative period for movie ticket sales. The extended holiday of eight days is anticipated to draw more movie-goers to cinemas, promising a robust start to the Chinese film market in 2024.

On Feb 10, eight films debuted, vying for audience attention. Among them, the domestic comedy-drama "YOLO," directed by and starring renowned comedian Jia Ling, emerged as the highest-grossing title so far, generating over 1.3 billion yuan in revenue as of Tuesday morning, according to box office tracker Dengta Data.

This success narrowly edged out the comedy "Pegasus 2," which earned nearly 1.2 billion yuan in its first three days of release. Written and directed by writer-turned-director and racing driver Han Han, the film serves as a sequel to his 2019 Spring Festival holiday hit "Pegasus."

In the Spring Festival box office rankings, the animation "Boonie Bears: Time Twist" secured the third spot, amassing a total revenue of 714 million yuan since its debut.