Of the top ten highest-grossing films, four were domestic, led by adventure-comedy "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," which topped China's box office in the first half, outperforming "Iron Man 3."
"So Young," "American Dreams in China" and "Finding Mr. Right" rounded out the top five with contemporary stories set in reality.
Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Beijing University and an active culture critic, said domestic film producers have managed to attract wider audiences, especially people in their 20s and 30s, by relaying stories that resonate with the daily lives of ordinary people.
Real-life stories have worked magic for the domestic film industry, which has struggled to gain an advantage over imported films since 2012, the year that China upped its annual quota for imported films, according to Professor Zhang.
Under a new China-U.S. film agreement signed in 2012, China increased its annual import quota of Hollywood blockbusters from 20 to 34 and lifted their share of revenue from 17.5 percent to 25 percent.
As a result, ticket sales for imported movies contributed 51.54 percent of gross ticket revenue that year, ending domestic films' nine-year dominance at the box office.
Encouraged by low-budget comedy "Lost in Thailand," which took in an unprecedented 1.2 billion yuan in less than a month after it debuted on Dec. 12 last year, domestic producers have shifted their focus from blockbuster epics to real-life dramas and comedies.
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