"The Volunteers: Peace at Last," the highly anticipated finale to Chinese director Chen Kaige's war epic trilogy, is set for a nationwide release on September 30, as announced at its premiere in Beijing on Saturday. The film is expected to be a cinematic highlight of the National Day holiday period.

As of Saturday, the total pre-sale box office for 2025's National Day holiday films had surpassed 50 million yuan ($7 Million). "The Volunteers: Peace at Last" has contributed 10 million yuan according to the data from box office tracker Maoyan, and is currently ranked among the top three in pre-sales, alongside "Sound of Silence" and "A Writer's Odyssey Ⅱ."

As the concluding chapter of the volunteers trilogy, "The Volunteers: Peace at Last," moves beyond the large-scale battles of its predecessors to focus on the complex phase of the Korean War where battles and negotiations occurred simultaneously. The narrative is said to deliver unprecedented emotional depth, with the storyline seen from the perspective of Li Xiao (played by Zhang Zifeng) and her search for her father, weaving together the personal journeys of the trilogy's key characters.

"The history is not a cold past, but a vivid present," young actress Zhang Zifeng commented. "I want to give Li Xiao a hug, and I also want to pay tribute to the volunteer soldiers."

The trilogy has seen consistent box office success. The first installment, "The Volunteers: To The War" (2023), earned 868 million yuan during its National Day run. The following year, "The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death," boosted by the star power of Wu Jing, saw its earnings rise to 1.207 billion yuan.

Combined, the first two instalments have grossed around two billion yuan, setting high expectations for the finale's performance.