Treat for the box office

Jackie Chan with the international cast of Kung Fu Yoga. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Meanwhile, despite their commercial success, the films were not rated very highly.

Douban.com, one of China's most popular forums for movie fans, gives the four films (from the top to the lowest-grossing) scores of 5.8 points, 5.4, 3.9 and 7 out of 10.

While The Demons Strike Back was mainly criticized for its loose storyline and acting, Kung Fu Yoga was slammed for stereotypical action and comedy.

Buddies in India saw viewers complain that the story was a farce full of vulgar, soft-porn jokes and meaningless stunts.

But some critics disagreed with the ratings. Dai Degang, an associate professor of literature at the Beijing Film Academy, says that the quality of the movies for this year's Spring Festival holiday were better than those released last year.

"China's movie market still has potential for box-office growth. The slowdown last year was in part due to the poor quality of the films on offer," Dai says.

As for the improved box-office performance during this year's Spring Festival break, some industry watchers say that a demographic shift also played a role in addition to the better-quality films.

A recent report by the entertainment researcher, Entgroup, shows the areas that saw a rapid growth in box-office collections during the festival were mostly third- and fourth-tier cities.

Analysts say the chunyun, or the travel rush during the festival, causes a swell of filmgoers in these cities.