The show must go on

The exhibition comes at a time when the domestic film industry faces challenges in recent years. Despite the country maintaining its position as the world's second-largest film market, its box-office revenue last year reached 42.5 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), a 23 percent drop compared to the previous year, according to data of the China Film Administration. It was lower than the 43.78 billion yuan in 2015.

While the decline in box-office revenue has been noticeable, the drop in the number of moviegoers is a more pressing issue. Last year, the total number of cinema visits nationwide exceeded 1 billion, marking a more than 40 percent slide from the 1.69 billion visits in 2019.

The film industry is looking forward to a rebound during the upcoming Spring Festival, traditionally a peak season for moviegoing. The Spring Festival season, the most lucrative film period of the year, will open on Jan 29, Chinese New Year's Day. So far, six films, including The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero directed by Tsui Hark and Detective Chinatown 1900 directed by Chen Sicheng and Mo Dai, are scheduled to be released that day.