(Yicai Global) Nov. 21 — China's year-to-date box office takings surpassed CNY50 billion (USD7.54 billion) yesterday to hit an all-time annual high, state-run People's Daily reported, quoting the State Administration of Press, Publication, Film and Television.

Figures were boosted by the recent release of DC's Justice League, which took a healthy USD185 million up to yesterday and Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok, which is expected to make USD110 million by the end of its theatrical run.

As of 7:49 p.m. yesterday, box office receipts for this year had totaled CNY50.02 billion, up 15 percent compared with the same period of last year. The total number of tickets sold was up by 19 percent at 1.448 billion.

Domestic movies contributed CNY26.2 billion, or 52.4 percent, to total national box office revenue, with exactly half of the 78 movies that grossed more than CNY100 million (USD15.07 million) this year being Chinese productions.

"China's total box office takings were around just CNY1 billion back in 2003, when the film industry reform came in," said Jia Leilei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Arts. "The figure has increased about 50-fold over 13 years — nothing like this has happened before in the global film industry.

"China has almost 50,000 screens now, more than any other country," he continued. "This shows China has good infrastructure in place and can meet the demands of cinemagoers."

The Chinese movie industry has maintained an average 30-percent yearly growth rate since 2003. National box office takings topped CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) in 2010, CNY40 billion in 2015 and CNY50 billion this year, closing the gap between China and the world's largest movie market, the US. China overtook Japan as the world's second-largest movie market in 2012.