With half of China now online, the country's Internet behemoths are seeking new pastures - and it seems that the big screen is their next target.

Statistics show that China has 688 million, or 50.3 percent of its population, on the Internet. And the country, which just saw its box-office receipts overtaking the United States in February, is widely expected to become the world's largest movie market within the next two years.

For most industry watchers, seeing Internet giants stretching their tentacles towards the movie industry is not a surprise. But the scale and speed has come as a bit of a shock even to them.