Film industry watchers have speculated that China's annual box office sales could surpass North America's as soon as 2017.
In February, Chinese cinemas pulled in a record 6.87 billion yuan (1.06 billion U.S. dollars) in ticket sales, with monthly box office sales overtaking North America's for the first time, according to statistics from the film bureau of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT).
China has become the second largest film market with its box office sales reaching 44 billion yuan (6.8 billion U.S.dollars) in 2015, up 48.7 percent from 2014.
However, there is still a huge gap between China's film industry and Hollywood.
"It is evident Chinese movies still lag far behind their Hollywood peers," said Luan Guozhi, deputy director of the film bureau of SAPPRFT.
Domestic films dominated last year, earning 27.1 billion yuan in ticket sales, or 61.58 percent of the country's total, but they still faced fierce competition from Hollywood.
Imported films are capped at 64 each year to protect the domestic movie industry, and 35 American movies accounted for 85 percent of revenues of foreign films.
"Our films have yet to make a breakthrough in terms of storytelling and technical competitiveness," said Luan.
CO-PRODUCTIONS BRING PROGRESS
One bright spot for the domestic film industry is cooperation between Chinese and U.S. industry leaders and investors.
Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group announced it had acquired leading Hollywood film production company Legendary Entertainment for 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in January.
Mammoth state-run enterprise CITIC Group established the first China-U.S. joint film venture last April by working with Dick Cook, president and CEO of Dick Cook Studios (DCS).
