A scene from  Legend of the Demon Cat. [Photo provided to China Daily]

He further points out that military action and urban romances are the two dominant genres in China, overtaking fantasy productions.

Yin says that Chinese films are more closely aligned with overseas trends.

"And though we still lack a film that really touches the global market, more coproductions and stories with a global outlook are ways of getting there," he says.

Separately, he says that major Chinese films now set their stories overseas, including Wolf Warriors 2, the widely acclaimed Operation Mekong in 2016, as well as Operation Red Sea and Detective Chinatown Vol 2, the two highest-grossing Chinese films so far this year.

Yin says 2017 marked a beginning of "a new type of mainstream production".

In China, mainstream films refer to those productions used to educate the public and promote mainstream values, usually through portrayals of national heroes and the country's major infrastructure.

However, these productions often found it difficult to achieve commercial success in the past.