Pegasus 3 (film)

After the curtain falls on the last Bayanbulak rally, Zhang Chi (Shen Teng) and friends return to their quiet lives, but the passion for racing in their hearts is hard to extinguish. The Muchen 100 Rally, in which many Asian countries are participating, is about to begin and the Chinese team's boss Bai Qiang (Sha Yi [zh]) invites Zhang Chi and Sun Yuqiang (Yin Zheng) to put together a national team to represent China in the competition. Lin Zhendong (Huang Jingyu) and other top racecar drivers join, but Zhang Chi discovers that the seemingly smooth journey is hiding a complex plot. Facing the scheming and murkiness of ordinary human relationships, he and his friends decide to embark on a more difficult path, to protect the purity of racing and their own dignity.

Following the commercial success of Pegasus 2 in 2024, director Han Han and his team began developing the plot for the next film in the series.^[5] The film largely features the same cast and crew as Pegasus 2, but also has some returning cast members from the original Pegasus. Most of the main cast members have appeared with Shen Teng on Natural High (现在就出发) and Ace vs. Ace [zh] (王牌对王牌).^[6][7]

The project officially began in March 2025.^[8] Shooting began in August 2025 in Shanghai and finished in October of that year.^[9] The non-racing scenes were mostly filmed in Minhang, Shanghai,^[10] the big departure scene was filmed at Qingdao Liuting International Airport, Qingdao,^[11] and night racing was filmed on location at Zhenhai refinery in Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technological Development Zone [zh].^[12] To create the Muchen 100 rally, the production team went to Jiulong County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan; Delingha, Qinghai, and other places, filming on location at elevations of more than 4500 meters.^[13]

In addition, in pursuit of better visual effects, the production team also filmed in Oriental Movie Metropolis, where The Wandering Earth series was produced.^[14]

On 26 December 2025, it was announced that the film would be released on 17 February 2026 (Chinese New Year). It was the first Chinese New Year film to be announced for that year.^[15] On 9 February 2026, tickets went on sale, and it became the best-performing Chinese New Year film of the year at the box office.^[16]