February is a golden period for the Chinese film industry. 

As the first batch of blockbusters hit cinemas around China for the Spring Festival holiday, the market reached uncharted territory, grossing 5.65 billion yuan - or, some 890 million US dollars in six days. China’s box office for the New Year broke sales records when compared to the same season last year.

This year, nine Chinese films from genres including action, animation, comedy, and fantasy made their debut on the second day of China's Spring Festival holiday.

The sequel to fantasy adventure film Monster Hunt, the top-earner among domestic films of 2015, was the most anticipated film of the season.

Monster Hunt 2 shattered the opening day and single day records for Chinese Lunar New Year's Day on Feb. 16 with a stunning total of 550 million yuan (86 million US dollars). 

By the end of the holiday, the action comedy film "Detective Chinatown 2" made 1.89 billion yuan (298 million US dollars), beating all the other films. Its box office numbers were stable, and it received mostly positive reviews during the six days.

Violent military blockbuster "Operation Red Sea" follows in a similar style to that of Chinese actor and director Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior 2." 

There was little promotion and pre-sales numbers were modest, but the action film now has a high rating of 8.5 out of 10 on Chinese film review site Douban. The movie grossed 1.2 billion yuan (189 million US dollars) by the end of the holiday. 

There is also a new film in one of China's most successful animation franchises - "Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink". 

The film became a winner of the season, benefiting from keen interest from children and parents. It grossed 411 million yuan (64 million US dollars) after six days.

Dai Yuzhu, Manager of the Shuangjing UME, one of the busiest cinemas in Beijing, said the success of China’s box office in the festival was due to the release of high quality domestic films, "The attendance on the second day of the Chinese New Year was higher than last year. Domestic films dominated the box office over the past week. Detective Chinatown 2, Monster Hunt 2 and Operation Red Sea were the most well-received films. I think this is due to the high quality of these films. We also assigned the screenings of some other movies such as director Feng Xiaogang's 'Youth' for the moviegoers who didn't have time to watch it before the Spring Festival holiday."

Combined with the other box office performances of domestic films, the Chinese movie market saw more than 1.26 billion yuan or some 198 million US dollars in sales on the second day of the Lunar New Year holiday. 

This is a new one-day record for a single market in the world – breaking the previous record when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and other films grossed 137 million US dollars in North America on Dec. 18 2015.

Over 30 domestic films will squeeze into a tight theater schedule in February and observers said the Spring Festival gold rush again indicates the great potential of China's film market. 

But intense competition in the domestic market may also pose challenges for film producers trying to serve new savvy moviegoers.