Silver screen salvo lights way

From black comedy to romantic flicks, the country's growing film industry is starting the new year with a booming box office fueled by what pundits hold are moviegoers looking for some escape from a gloomy economy.

In the following week of this year's Spring Festival that fell on Jan 26, mainland theater box offices grossed 155 million yuan ($22.6 million), a third more than that of last year, as figures on www.cinema.com.cn, a box office research website show.

All top five moneymakers were domestic productions, such as young director Ning Hao's black comedy named Crazy Racer (Fengkuang de Saiche) and romantic flick Look for a Star (Youlong Xifeng) featuring popular actors Andy Lau and Shu Qi.