Domestic movies to enrich Chinese Lunar New Year

BEIJING - China's box office is estimated to exceed 400 million yuan (nearly $63.2 million) on Feb 16, the first day of the Lunar New Year, according to Maoyan, a popular film database in China.

About 10 domestic films from genres such as fantasy, comedy, action and animation amongst others will hit screens during the Lunar New Year holiday, bringing more choices for Chinese.

An important strategy for the film market at the new year has been to produce sequels to movies that have been released, according to Zhu Chuanxin, an instructor at the Faculty of Art in Communication University of China.

"Monster Hunt 2" followed its predecessor, creating an oriental fantasy world, and "Detective Chinatown 2" retains a comedic style while the setting has changed from Bangkok to New York.

"Operation Red Sea," which tells a story of China's anti-terrorism efforts, was produced by the same director of "Operation Mekong," a blockbuster action movie which debuted in 2016.

"Bonnie Bears" is an animated movie series, which received wide recognition from children and its fifth installment, "The Big Sharks," will be on screens on Feb. 16.

After viewing previews, Zhu said that the special effects, scenery and photography of some key movies are very well produced.

The Chinese film market earned over 3.4 billion yuan in ticket sales over the last Lunar New Year holiday, according to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

In 2017, China's movie box office revenue rose 13.45 percent to more than 55.9 billion yuan, with domestic films contributing 53.84 percent to the market.