"Better Days," a heartbreaking tale of bullying and violence in a high school continues to dominate Chinese theaters box offices for the third week, grossing about 238.4 million yuan (nearly 34.1 million U.S. dollars), according to Maoyan.com, China's leading movie-ticketing platform.

The brutal coming-of-age drama has hauled in 1.38 billion yuan (about 197.6 million U.S. dollars) since its domestic release in late October.

Directed by Derek Tsang, the film, starring celebrated actress Zhou Dongyu and singer Jackson Yee, became a smash hit due to strong word of mouth. Currently, it is rated of 8.4 out of 10 points on Douban.com, a major Chinese film rating and review site.

Another familiar title on the current chart is Hollywood blockbuster "Terminator: Dark Fate." The sixth installment in the sci-fi classic "Terminator" franchise snatched another 118 million yuan (16.9 million U.S. dollars), bringing its Chinese revenues to a total up to over 315 million yuan (about 45 million U.S. dollars).

The Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton starred action picture held a second place, closely followed by the big debut of "Midway," which launched with over 110.5 million yuan (15.8 million U.S. dollars) during its opening weekend.

At the helm of German director Roland Emmerich, "Midway" was theatrically released on November 8 in China, the same day as its North American release.

Starring Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans and Woody Harrelson, the film is based on trues stories about the Battle of Midway, a decisive four-day battle that marks a key turning point in the Pacific during the World War II.

Emmerich is best known for his widely acclaimed science-fiction disaster films, including "2012," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Independence Day" series, which feature astounding visual effects and disaster scenes.

His latest actioner, starting from the attack on Pearl Harbor, not only recounts a U.S. naval fleet's hard-won triumph, but also brings to life some of the most exciting, spectacular air and sea battles.

Chinese military expert Zhang Zhaozhong shared his comments after watching the film on Weibo, where he has over 12 million followers, speaking highly of the movie, especially for the re-creation of the historic battles.

"It's like an instruction film on military or a documentary. It represents history and is very touching," reads one of his posts.

"All the characters are real characters, which is really important for us. I said, for example to the writer, 'at one point, we shouldn't invent anything, we should only document what happened then,'" the film director said in an interview with Chinese media Mtime, adding that "And even some of these moments are outrageous, they all happened."

However, some film critics pointed out that the plot and characters are relatively weak despite that the actors impressive performances as the scope in the film is prioritized over individual drama.

The World War I documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old" hit Chinese theaters Monday on November 11. 

Produced and directed by Peter Jackson, it was released through the China's National Arthouse Alliance, which has limited screens.

The 2018 war film features interviews with WWI veterans, combining more than a-century-year-old archival materials from the BBC and original footage from Imperial War Museum, which were restored through colorization and other production techniques.

Thanks to the restoration techniques, the critically acclaimed Italian drama "The Legend of 1900" will return to the big screens and make its China debut 21 years after its original release.

The 4K restored version of the 1998 classic is set to hit Chinese theaters this Friday, November 15. Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Tim Roth, the Oscar-winning film follows the life of a legendary piano prodigy.

It enjoys an extremely high score of 9.2 on Douban.com, where it obtained more than 924,000 reviews. Numerous Chinese cinephiles have shared their excitement on social media since its release date was announced.

On the same day, another highly anticipated film "Charlie's Angels" opens in cinemas across the country. 

The actioner, starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska, will follow the adventure of three female investigators who were sent on dangerous missions.

(Cover image by Liu Shaozhen)