FOR over a consecutive week, “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” a domestic fantasy film, has dominated the Chinese mainland’s box office chart, raking in over 1.1 billion yuan (US$154 million) as of Sunday, with this past weekend alone contributing more than 310 million yuan to its overall earnings.

Amidst the robust post-COVID recovery of China’s film industry, “Kingdom of Storms” stands out as a noteworthy “made-in-China” blockbuster. Boasting a considerable budget and an ensemble of renowned Chinese mythology figures portrayed by top actors, this film has captured the attention of audiences. Nonetheless, it is not the sole domestic production to triumph in this year’s thriving summer movie season. The Chinese film industry has witnessed several successful releases during this period of resurgence.

According to box office tracker Dengta Data, the mainland’s box office revenue for the summer movie season that started June 1 had exceeded 12.6 billion yuan as of Sunday, nearly 3 billion yuan more than the figure for the same period in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19.

However, the two Hollywood blockbusters “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Barbie,” both released on the Chinese mainland around the same time as in the United States, have fallen short of expectations in terms of performance.

As of Sunday, four of the five highest-grossing films during this year’s summer movie season were domestic productions, earning over 8 billion yuan in total, according to Dengta Data. The four domestic films, including “Kingdom of Storms,” represent a diverse range of genres.

The top-grosser “Lost in the Stars” is a suspense crime film about a woman mysteriously disappearing while on an overseas trip with her husband. The drama “Never Say Never” tells the story of a former boxer who decides to train orphans from rural places to give them a future. The animated film “Chang An” focuses on famous poets and poems from the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

“Chang An,” the third highest-grossing film so far during the summer season, beautifully explores the theme of passing down a cultural legacy through generations. The animated film tells the stories of the brilliant poet Li Bai, also known as the “Immortal Poet” in China, from the perspective of a friend of his. It features 48 well-known poems from the Tang Dynasty, some of which have been taught at schools and recited by students across the country, and has struck a chord with a wide range of young audiences.

“Instead of saying that we see various types of films this summer, I’d rather say that we can see more pronounced characteristics of different film genres from domestic commercial films, which is certainly positive for the development of the film industry,” said Yang Xindi, a researcher from the Beijing Film Academy.

“As China’s domestic films have more diverse subjects and more distinct genres, with the overall development of film industrialization, they are obviously becoming more attractive to the Chinese audience,” Yang added.

(Xinhua)