The top five Chinese market's highest-grossing films in history are all domestic movies, with the champion Wolf Warriors II earning over 5.6 billion yuan, according to Maoyan.

"With a rising number of high-quality domestic films, the selling power of Hollywood movies in the Chinese market has weakened," said Liu Jia, an industry expert who participated in writing the 2018 Research Report on the Chinese Film Industry issued in June.

"Local blockbusters, having become a contender with their Hollywood counterparts, regained favor with audiences in 2017 with increased market competitiveness and quality," says the report.

China now possesses over 50,000 screens nationwide, and the number is projected to rise to 60,000 by 2020.