The poster for Mermaid. [Photo/Mtime]

China's box office sales totaled 580 million yuan (about 88.3 million US dollars) on Valentine's Day, a new high from previous years.

The box office surged by more than 150 percent from the same day last year, according to data released by the China Film News on Monday.

More than half of the sales were generated by Mermaid, a sci-fi comedy by Stephen Chow, a famed Hong Kong director and comedian.

The Monkey King 2 took the second place with about 95 million yuan, while The Man from Macau III, starring Hong Kong actors Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau, scored 85 million yuan to come in third.

The Valentine's Day box office in 2016 increased markedly due to the date closely following the Spring Festival holiday, which ended Saturday.

The box office surge during the Spring Festival holiday, which totalled 3 billion yuan from Feb. 8 to 13, spilled over into Valentine's Day, according to the official paper.

For the past two years, Valentine's Day was several days before or after the holiday.