Chinese movie market sees huge growth

In the first three quarters of the year, China's movie market generated 16.42 billion yuan ($2.7 billion), registering a year-on-year growth of 35 percent, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

However, the increase is mainly attributed to the success of domestic movies.

During the period, domestic productions took in 9.56 billion yuan, up 94 percent compared to a year earlier, while imported movie revenues dropped 5.2 percent year-on-year to 6.86 billion yuan.

Industry insiders said that domestic film studios' improvement in producing high-quality movies is one of the main reasons behind the change. For example, a 3D-film Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons earned 1.24 billion yuan in box office revenue, and actress-turned director Zhao Wei's directorial debute So Young took in 717.3 million yuan in ticket sales.

Last year, foreign movies performed much better in the world's fastest growing film market, earning more than 51 percent of the total box office revenue in the country. So far this year, foreign productions' share of total ticket sales is just 42 percent.