China Box Office Surges 32 Percent in First Nine Months of the Year

The top 10 is divided equally between domestic and overseas films

Chinese box office revenue rose 32 percent in the first nine months of the year to hit $3.55 billion (21.6 billion yuan), already nearly equaling last year's full-year total. Forty five films this year made the symbolic 100 million yuan ($16.27 million) mark.

Total box office in 2013 was $3.55 billion (21.8 billion yuan).

The top 10 is divided between domestic films and four foreign films. The best performing movie so far this year is Transformers: Age of Extinction, which took in $320 million when currency adjustments are made, according to M1905, which is the official website of the state broadcaster’s movie channel, CCTV6.

The biggest performing domestic movie was Hong Kong director Pou Soi Cheang's 3D fantasy epic The Monkey King, which took $160 million.

The third-biggest movie was Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, which took in $118 million, followed by Captain America: The Winter Soldier which brought in $117 million.

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This year's box office looks on track to exceed $5 billion.

Still to come is the October National Day holiday, a big cinema-going event in China, and there are some major titles scheduled for later this year — Guardians of the Galaxy is due to be released on Oct. 10, while Jiang Wen's 3D epic Gone with the Bullets, a sequel to the wildly successful Let The Bullets Fly in 2010, is due to open in December.

Last year, China became the first international market to exceed $3 billion in the box office, according to the MPAA.

Of the top 10 grossing movies last year in China, seven were domestic films.