Wave of national pride prompts record box-office haul

Beijing-based critic Tan Fei agrees that the success of these patriotic films is also related to an enhanced sense of national pride thanks to China's rapid development, which has aroused an interest in some of the more glorious moments from the country's history.

"I actually saw some Chinese people wave national flags when they were watching My People, My Country in a European cinema," says Tan.

Internet giants entered the film industry five years ago, and are now focusing more on promoting festive blockbusters.

Sha Dan, a researcher with the China Film Archive, says modern society's reliance on smartphones and the internet has helped them market these seasonal blockbusters.

My People, My Country has drawn investment from 50 film companies, including internet giants Alibaba and Tencent, while other two films-The Captain and The Climbers-both cited Alibaba as an investor.

Teaming up with major service providers such as e-commerce site Taobao, food delivery app Eleme and online payment platform Alipay, Alibaba managed to generate 210 million "clicks" related to My People, My Country ahead of its release, according to a report by Taopiaopiao, Alibaba's online ticketing service.

"A person's online shopping habits make it possible for big data technology to 'calculate' what kind of movies you like," says Sha.

So when the internet giants start to make forays into the film market, they offer more efficient ways of hooking up with potential theatergoers, adds Sha.

But even with these nontraditional means in film promotion, some insiders say they believe it's still the quality of the product that decides its popularity.

"The three winners all tell excellent stories through well-developed characters. If all Chinese films could attain these heights, our industry insiders would be very optimistic about the future," says Wang Hailin, a veteran scriptwriter.