People enjoy a 4D stereoscopic film in Xiamen, Fujian Province. [Photo: xm.cnr.cn]

The movie box office sales on the Chinese mainland in 2016 reached 49.2 billion yuan (USD 7.1 billion), according to Jiang Ping, General Manager of China Film Co., Ltd. Meanwhile, China also had more than 43,000 movie screens in the first quarter of 2017, the most in the world.

The updated information was released by Jiang for the first time at the 2017 Beijing International Film Festival, reports youth.cn.

Film stars are seen at the opening ceremony of 2017 Beijing International Film Festival, which is ongoing till April 23rd. [Photo: bjiff.com]

By the end of 2016, a total of nine movies witnessed a box office performance of over one billion yuan, including Stephen Chow's "The Mermaid," Dante Lam's "Operation Mekong" and Daniel Lee's "Time Raiders."

Poster of movie "Time Raiders" [Photo: baike.baidu.com]

"Chinese films have been developing quickly in recent years. The box office sales have grown from ten billion yuan in 2011 to nearly 50 billion yuan last year," said Li Guoqi, a deputy director of the film branch with China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

Li has attributed the remarkable growth of the Chinese movie market to filmmakers' enhanced ability to create movies and the advancement of cinema construction in China.

Poster of movie "Operation Mekong" [Photo: baike.baidu.com]

Currently, the Chinese box office comes second in the world in terms of sales figures, after that of North America, reports youth.cn.