In 2015, "Monster Hunt" became the highest grossing film of all time in the Chinese box office. (Photo : Movie Poster)
China's box office experienced a 48.7-percent year-on-year increase in 2015, with receipts totaling 44.06 billion yuan ($6.8 billion), according to data provided by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), as reported by the Global Times.
This marks the first time that the Chinese box office has broken the 40-billion-yuan mark. It is the highest growth rate since 2011, the start of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan.
Majority of the box-office revenue was earned by domestic films, accounting for 61.58 percent or 27.1 billion yuan.
The number of movie screens in the country has also grown at an amazing rate, with 8,035 new screens being added in 2015, an average of 22 movie screens every day. This brings the total number of screens in the country to 31,627.
Tickets sold increased by 51.08 percent year-on-year, with 1.25 billion tickets sold.
Aside from giving increased revenue, 2015 was also notable for the number of domestic blockbusters that dominated the market, besting their foreign counterparts.
Two 2015 domestic releases, "Monster Hunt" and "Mojin - The Lost Legend" are now among the 10 highest-earning films of all time in the mainland Chinese box office.
"Monster Hunt," directed by Raman Hui and starring Bai Baihe and Jing Boran, beat Hollywood release "Furious 7," earning 2.4 billion yuan to become the highest-earning film in the mainland Chinese market and the first domestic film to earn over 2 billion yuan.
"Mojin," which was released in December, is the fifth-highest grossing film of all time in the Chinese box office with 1.44 billion yuan, beating "Jurassic World."
