(Yicai Global) Nov. 27 -- The total box office earnings of China has reached CNY50 billion (USD7.5 billion) for the first time this year and is expected to hit CNY70 billion per year by 2020, said a senior executive of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, China's media regulator.

"China would become the largest movie market in the world in 2020," said Zhang Hongsen, vice president of the Administration, when addressing an industrial forum.

China may become the next global movie production center after Hollywood and will play a better cluster role for global movie resources, state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted Zhang as saying.

China is becoming an important market for films from all around the world, such as "Dangal" from India, "Contratiempo" from Spain and "Bad Genius" from Thailand, all of which have achieved better box office results in China than in their local markets, the report added.