Surprise winners

Ticket buyers take films unpopular with critics to the top of the box office during the recent three-day holiday. Xu Fan explores why.

Hollywood filmmakers may find the world's second-largest market increasingly looking like a maze.

Commonly in a mature movie industry, giant budgets and good stories secure the box office. However, the dark-horse Chinese blockbusters that galloped to the top during the recent May Day holiday have upended all the rules to win a "surprising" market.