The Chinese film industry has been on a roll with more movie theaters opening their doors and festivals starting in succession over the past month. As the COVID-19 has largely been brought under control in the country, people are ready to embrace the world of magic they were used to before the pandemic.

On Monday, much to moviegoers' delight, it was announced that "Leap" will have its official release on September 30, one day before the start of China's National Day holiday. The movie, based on stories from the Chinese women's national volleyball team, was initially scheduled for January 24, the eve of the Chinese New Year, but was postponed as cinemas closed because of the pandemic.

"I never thought that we would wait for seven months after we held our film's premiere. I've been shooting films for three decades. I have to say these seven months were the most insufferable moments of my career. It's the spirit of Chinese women's national volleyball team that has helped me to persist till today," director Peter Ho-sun Chan wrote on his Weibo, a Chinese microblogging site, on Monday.

The team has been the pride of Chinese people since it first claimed the championship in 1981. A-list actress Gong Li plays the role of Lang Ping, the current head coach of the team. Many volleyball players took part in the film as some scenes require professional knowledge of the game and physical fitness.

Another highly-anticipated film, the animation film "Legend of Deification," will also hit theaters on October 1. It was also first scheduled to premiere during the Spring Festival back in January.

"Let's catch up on the Spring Festival that we've missed," says a promotional poster for the film released on Sunday.

The movie is made by the same studio behind the 2019 blockbuster "Ne Zha." "Legend of Deification" tells the story of Jiang Ziya, a mythological figure who shares the same god universe with Ne Zha, through his self-rediscovery journey following the collapse of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 B.C.).

The weeklong holiday, from October 1 to 7, is one of the peak seasons for box office sales in China. Besides the two big-ticket titles, several other movies are also expected to premiere during the holiday, including animation film "Wonderful kingdom: Enchanted," and the two features "My hometown and I" and "Coffee or Tea?”

Since August 14, movie theaters in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu have raised their cap on maximum seating capacity from 30 percent to 50 percent. The 2020 Beijing International Film Festival will also raise the curtain on Saturday – more than two weeks after the Shanghai International Film Festival wrapped up.