'Her Story' tops New Year season's box office

As the New Year approaches, the final stretch of the Year of the Dragon shows a promising sign of heating up in domestic movie market.

As of Tuesday, hesuidang — a lucrative box-office period spanning from late November to early March, encompassing the New Year and Spring Festival holidays — has raked in over 2 billion yuan ($274.1 million), as reported by the data-tracking firm, Beacon.

Leading the charge on the charts is Her Story, a comedy delving into gender equality, claiming the top position at the box office during this period. Following it are the Hong Kong drama The Last Dance and the Japanese animated film Crayon Shin-chan: Ora's Dinosaur Diary, securing the second and third spots, respectively, according to movie information collecting platform Maoyan Pro.

Zhong Chuxi, the actress in Her Story, revealed during the movie's Beijing premiere earlier this year that the film conveys an upbeat message: It is acceptable to endure negative emotions like anxiety, as with time, life will eventually realign itself in the right direction.

Renowned filmmaker Li Yu commented that the film explores a serious and thought-provoking topic beneath its humorous narrative, showcasing a new trend. Rather than portraying women's circumstances in a conventionally painful manner, the film demonstrates that feminist subjects can also be explored in a lighthearted and engaging manner.

Currently, the film stands at 9.1 out of 10 on the popular rating site Douban, the highest rating among all Chinese-language films this year.