Movies' mi das touch

Cinema typically prospers during slowdowns, and insiders think new films will turn box offices to gold, Xu Fan reports.

China's box-office chart has seen new records set frequently in recent months. The latest big high - this year's first three-quarters raking in more money than all of 2014 - has sparked predictions that 2015 will roar all the way to 40 billion yuan ($6.25 billion).

Powered by a strong summer season, the world's second-largest movie market grossed about 32 billion yuan from more than 320 movies in the first nine months of 2015, according to box office tracker Cbooo.cn.