ACTION HERO:Actor Huang Xiaoming in the historical drama Sacrifice, a New Year film directed by Chen Kaige

China's film market moved to overcome its inertia with box-office receipts in excess of 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion) at the end of 2010. Most popular imported film was the Oscar winning science fiction epic Avatar, which has grossed 1.38 billion yuan ($206 million) in China since its release on January 4. Another science fiction drama, Inception, had movie-goers shelling out almost 500 million yuan ($74.63 million) in just four months.

Domestic films, including the Tangshan earthquake blockbuster Aftershock and the Under the Hawthorn Tree, a love story set in the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), were also big successes despite their relatively low production costs. The former brought in 670 million yuan ($100 million) and the latter exceeded 100 million yuan ($14.93 million).

More screens

Apart from the movie takings, China's film distribution system also continued to transform itself in 2010.

On December 9, the Beijing-based BONA Film Group Corp. became the first Chinese film and TV company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Previously, all domestic films were distributed by the state-owned China Film Group Corp. In June 2003, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) granted a trial distribution license to six private companies, including BONA, breaking the state monopoly on film distribution. Since then Chinese filmmakers have developed a strong marketing sense and it has become common for new movies to be promoted with dynamic advertising campaigns.

The number of movie theaters has also increased. The total number of screens in China now exceeds 6,000, with almost three new 450-seat theaters being constructed every day. However, even such rapid construction can only ensure that there is one screen for every 200,000 people, far less than the ratio of one screen per 9,000 people in the United States. Obviously, a huge distribution market is yet to be tapped.

In 2005, Dalian-based Wanda Group invested heavily to build the Wanda Cinema Line Corp. Owning over 50 regular cinemas across the country, it became China's first cinema chain to have box-office sales topping 1 billion yuan ($149.25 million) in 2010. According to experts, this result shows investors' higher interest in the distribution of films.

Li Huailiang, Dean of the Media Management School at the Communication University of China, said the Central Government has carried out new policies, which help to stimulate the domestic market at first. As close contact is established between domestic and international markets, homemade films will have growing influence and competitiveness overseas, he said.

China's film industry has entered a stage of rapid growth, said Wang Yunping, a researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission. Since a structural reform was carried out in this field seven years ago, movie box-office sales have increased at an amazing annual rate of 30 percent, which is quite an unusual case in the world, he said.

"The sharp rise of the audience population has created a golden opportunity for the development of the film industry," he said.