China's cinemas are expected to rake in 3 billion yuan (US$395 million) in box office revenue in 2007, as more cinemas opened and more home-made movies competing with imported blockbusters.

Chinese movie theaters have reaped 1.2 billion yuan in box office revenue in first half of 2007 while the best seasons not being counted yet, local media reported on Thursday. China reported two billion yuan of box office revenue in 2005 and 2.6 billion yuan in 2006.

As more urban Chinese are accustomed to go to the cinema, 100 new cinema with more than 700 screens have been opened so far this year, the Beijing News said.

Since the beginning of this year, many domestic movies have become box office hits. Curse of the Golden Flower by Zhang Yimou and two other home-made movies, Confession of Pain, and Protege, garnered approximately 400 million yuan in total.

At the same time, foreign blockbusters like "Spiderman 3", "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", "Tranformers", "Harry Porter and Deathly Hallows" also gained popularity among Chinese film fans, each earning more than 100 million yuan.

The competition will turned even bloodier later this year. Director An Lee's "Samasara", and Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises", both candidates for the Golden Lion Award at this year's Venice Film Festival, will be screened in late September on the Chinese mainland.

Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster "Assembly" and Hong Kong director Peter Chan's "The Warlords" are expected to be screened in December.