Box office receipts hit record high

Information and statistics from EntGroup's database showed that about 28 movies are scheduled to be released from Tuesday until the end of the year, and only one is a Hollywood production - Rush, which stars Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor in the popular Marvel Comics movies.

Chinese movies due for release this month that have great potential at the box office include the action-adventure feature The Ghouls, Mr. Six, which stars the renowned film director Feng Xiaogang, and Surprise, which grows out of the popular Internet comedy series, said Fu.

"The improvement in filmmaking quality, especially for domestic productions, and Chinese audiences' increasingly mature film-watching habits have contributed to this explosive growth of China's movie market," Fu said.

The nationwide expansion of theaters and screens also helped to boost growth at the box office. The number of theaters reached 5,780 by the end of last year, with 23,630 screens, according to statistics from Analysys International, a Beijing-based information technology consultancy. By the end of November, the number of screens had grown to 30,809, while urban theaters expanded to 6,210, data from the film watchdog showed.