The Chinese film market has become the largest one in the world. Last year, cinemas across the Chinese mainland raked in around 9 billion US dollars at the box office. A string of indigenous productions have broken domestic top-earning records. And big data is playing a role.

Analysis of big data indicates that China's moviemaking sector is now in a period of smooth and steady growth, ever since 2016. Future expansion of the industry is likely to come from the country's hundreds of medium and small cities. The analysis indicates a good story will be more important than ever to pull in the cinemagoers. Meanwhile, big data can also help introduce more diversity on the Chinese big screen.

SUN XIANGHUI DIRECTOR OF CHINA FILM ARCHIVE "After studying the results of the survey, we've noticed some indicators of future trends. I think two types of films deserve to be closely watched -- animations and dramas about contemporary urban life. There're many acclaimed films in these two categories."

The China Film Archive has been a major venue for the ongoing Beijing Film Festival. Ten days before the festival's opening, the Archive launched a classic movies exhibition, which will last until this weekend. On offer are both well-known Chinese oldies and films from the US, Japan, Europe, and other countries.

To mark 40 years of China's reform and opening up policy, the festival's exhibition features a special section titled 'The Record of Beijing'. Through a series of movies set in Beijing, it reviews the evolution of the urban life and city landscape of the Chinese capital.