She added that this summer, more large-scale preview screenings were held for domestic films, reflecting local moviemakers' confidence in their work and their belief that these movies will do well.

Zhi said: "China battled the pandemic for three years, during which cinemas and film production companies faced many challenges. However, Chinese filmmakers had more time during this period to concentrate on creativity, which led to many quality stories with diverse themes emerging. Consequently, this year has witnessed a constant flow of excellent releases."

In January, Spring Festival blockbusters, including Full River Red and The Wandering Earth II, propelled box-office takings past 10 billion yuan, making it the highest-grossing January in the history of Chinese cinema.

Beacon, the information tracker, said that due to the summer box-office bonanza, earnings this year have surpassed 41 billion yuan, compared with 29.94 billion yuan for the whole of last year.

Chen Jin, an analyst at Beacon, said enthusiasm among Chinese audiences to return to theaters has been strengthened, as nearly 53 percent of those who went to cinemas during the summer were making their first such visit of the year.

With the release of more highly anticipated movies such as Christopher Nolan's epic Oppenheimer, Chen predicted that the summer box-office takings could surpass 20 billion yuan, bringing this year's earnings closer to pre-pandemic levels.

Before the pandemic led to cinemas in China being closed for six months from late January 2020, the nation's annual box-office takings the previous year reached a record 64.2 billion yuan, domestic media reports said.

xufan@chinadaily.com.cn