The live-action animated blockbuster, produced by local animators, proves that China has what it takes to beat its Hollywood rivals.
While 100 million yuan was a threshold to judge a big commercial winner last year, the marker this year became 1 billion yuan.
Eight movies, including five made in China, hit the new standard.
Next to the champion Monster Hunt, Lost in Hong Kong, a sequel to the former highest-grossing domestic production Lost in Thailand, takes the second slot among homegrown titles at 1.61 billion yuan.
The other three Chinese blockbusters are Goodbye Mr. Loser (1.44 billion yuan), Mojin: The Lost Legend (1.25 billion yuan since its Dec 18 premiere) and Jian Bing Man (1.16 billion yuan).
An interesting phenomenon: All five were released after July and four are comedies (except the fantasy-action thriller Mojin), which means the latter half of this year has earned a fortune in laughs.
But their average score of 6.5 out of 10 on major movie sites, such as Douban.com and Mtime.com, reveals the disappointing fact that their market triumph doesn't equate to respected content or particular artistic value.
Meanwhile The Imitation Game, Rush and The Martian－despite all achieving scores beyond 8.5－failed to win the hearts and wallets of the Chinese even as they ran away with Oscar or Golden Globe nominations.
Experts and industry sources reached by China Daily have diverse explanations, but most agree that typical Chinese moviegoers prefer tales close to their local struggles and aspirations－obviously a cultural puzzle for Hollywood, half a world away.
