A blockbuster month is building for foreign-movie buffs. Xu Fan goes behind the scenes to explore the year-end bonanza.

Chilly November has turned into a warm season for fans of big foreign films. Seven tentpoles - topping the imported release total for a single month this year - are competing fiercely for the Chinese mainland audience.

China allows 34 foreign big-budget titles annually to be released in mainland theaters, based on a 25-percent box-office share for foreign producers.

Except for July, which saw no such film imports, most months have two to four films, while only January had five, according to Mtime.com, one of the country's most popular movie sites.

Beginning with the survival movie Everest's debut on Nov 3, the first week of this month was fueled by the dystopian sci-fi title Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (released on Nov 4) and The Peanuts Movie (Nov 6), the first 3-D feature in Snoopy's 65-year history.

While China's rapidly growing market frequently sees blockbusters' box office takings surpassing the milestone 500-million-yuan ($78 million) mark, the three Hollywood movies have made small ripples. So far, Everest has taken in 100 million yuan, while Maze Runner has raked in 200 million yuan and Peanuts has earned 29 million yuan.

Big haul stimulates the slump market since last Friday, when the James Bond series' 24th installment Spectre opened in mainland theaters.

Meanwhile, despite the lukewarm reception of Spectre on major Chinese review websites, such as a 6.2 rating out of 10 on Douban.com, the film's star power and heavy-action stunts have garnered a couple of records in the world's second-largest movie market.

Statistics show that Daniel Craig's fourth 007 movie has earned titles including highest-grossing Friday opening and the biggest opening weekend in the history of 2-D Hollywood movies released in China.

By Wednesday, box-office tracker Cbooo.cn showed that Spectre had grossed 382 million yuan, but the upcoming potential foreign blockbusters may hinder the new Bond's push for more records.

Only two days after Craig and the latest Bond girl, Lea Seydoux, headlined a Beijing promotion on Nov 10, the finale of The Hunger Games series brought all the lead stars - Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth - to warm up a launch ceremony in the Chinese capital on Nov 12.

The forthcoming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 will be released on Nov 20, to compete with the same-day debut of the Sino-French action thriller The Transporter Refueled, or The Transporter 4, which is reportedly not part of the 34-title quota for imported films.

Next Wednesday, The Martian starring Matt Damon will hit mainland cinemas.

The domestic media said that the quotas for foreign films would be almost full by the end of the month. The last Hollywood movie of the year will be Paramount Pictures' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, which will open on Dec 1.

That means some of the most anticipated, already-released Hollywood blockbusters, such as the biographical drama The Walk (86 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes which premiered on Sept 26), seem to have little chance of being brought to China this year.

Some analyses in the domestic media say that the policy channels homegrown movies to the holiday seasons, which comprise the summer vacation, the National Day and the Spring Festival holidays.

But the recent National Day holiday week in October saw local viewers thirsty for Hollywood big-budget action films, say some industry watchers.

Others say it's just a matter of competition.

"China's movie market has been booming in the recent years. Around 300 movies wait for cinema screens every year, which means an average of almost one new film every day," says Yu Chao, vice-general manager of Capital Cinema, one of the country's oldest cinemas.

"So even for Chinese-language movies, the contention for a bite of the market is fierce," Yu tells China Daily over the telephone.

"The crowded month of November is a regular phenomenon since 2012, when China raised its annual quota from 20 to 34 for imported movies," Yu adds.

However, considering the box-office bonanza created by Monster Hunt, Jian Bing Man and The Monkey King: Hero Is Back in July, Yu says that crowded Novembers for Chinese movies will not significantly diminish the Hollywood's mainland revenues.

"But it's still a cruel market. If a movie can't earn a big weekend, it will see a sharp fall in screens in the following week," says Hao Wei, the secretary-general of the jury of Chinese Film Media Awards.

Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 11/19/2015 page7)