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There's nothing wrong with taking a date out to the cinema to enjoy the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

But things get a bit weird when the object of your affection is a lifelike sex doll .

That's exactly what one man in China did when he took a hyper-realistic blow up love doll along to see the new Warcraft movie.

And he even bought his girl a ticket.

The happy couple were snapped outside the Wanda Cinema in the city of Fuzhou in eastern China. The images of them enjoying the movie have since gone viral on Chinese social media.

Many commentators were happy to speculate on the nature of their relationship.

"The young man is afraid that people will try to grab his girlfriend, so he purposefully gives her the edge seat, now that is true love," wrote one, according to Shanghaiist .

Some pointed out that paying for a ticket only covers some of the cost.

"Why didn't you give the doll a pair of 3D glasses??" wrote another.

One other cinema goer rated the man's chances: "Nice seats. Bet he's going to get some tonight," they wrote.

Earlier this year, sex robots and love dolls were predicted as one of the biggest trends of 2016 as lonely men increasingly turn to cyber-solace.

Dr Helen Driscoll, a leading authority on the psychology of sex and relationships, said 'sex tech' was already advancing at a fast pace.

"We tend to think about issues such as virtual reality and robotic sex within the context of current norms," she said.

"But if we think back to the social norms about sex that existed just 100 years ago, it is obvious that they have changed rapidly and radically."

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However, other experts are not so certain.

Dr. Kathleen Richardson, a senior research fellow at De Montfort University in Leicester, has called the development of sex 'bots a "disturbing" trend that needs to be stopped.

"Sex robots seem to be a growing focus in the robotics industry and the models that they draw on - how they will look, what roles they would play - are very disturbing indeed," she said.

Either way, it's surely because of loving couples like this that Warcraft - based on the popular video game - has shattered Chinese box office records.