Domestic movies set record at box office

With a string of domestic blockbusters, Chinese-language movies scored a new high at the box office in the first half of this year, increasing nearly 80 percent year-on-year, according to the China Film Administration.

Domestic movies grossed 18.3 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) as of Monday, up 79.2 percent year-on-year, said Li Guoqi, deputy director of the administration, during a news conference at the SCO Film Festival.

The first of its kind, the festival - which runs from Wednesday to Sunday in Qingdao, Shandong province, gathers eight SCO member states and four observer nations to screen around 60 movies from the 12 countries.