Zootopia, which ranks first in box figures this year, took in 1.53 billion yuan, but it was far from the magnitude of last year's top grossing film, Fast and Furious 7, with 2.4 billion yuan, Li said.

More stable market

Last year, online booking firms splashed out big promotions to win customers. Ticket subsidies were worth nearly five billion yuan in 2015, accounting for 10 percent of total revenue, analysts said.

"Ticket subsidies used to be the norm, but it has come to hurt the industry. Commercial motives can not sustain driving the market. The manmade tide will die down and contents will rule," said Zhou Xing, a professor with Beijing Normal University.

Regulators also helped the market to emerge from fraud and foams and return to order.

In March, regulators said distributors of martial arts movie "Ip Man 3" fabricated box office figures. A total of 20 theater chains in China, about half of the total, were involved in the scandal.

A cooled-down market may be the best time for restructuring and cultivation of quality contents, analysts said.

A more healthy and prosperous Chinese film market is much anticipated, said Zhang Hong, Communist Party chief of the China Film Association.

Last year, China produced 686 films.

Film talents need to explore different genres to tell truly fascinating stories about China and the Chinese to capture the heart of audience, said Liu Hanwen.