Notable films of 2016

China's movie industry this year may not have seen the enviable growth rate of the recent past, but the past 12 months are seen by many as a good year for quality offerings - and for diversity as well. Not in the Hollywood sense, but in the kind of fare seen on the nation's big screens. Here are the top picks by China Daily's film critic Raymond Zhou.

Five blockbusters

There is no cutoff line for the definition of a Chinese blockbuster, but movies with a box-office return of 1 billion yuan ($144 million) or more usually qualify. The wide appeal of these titles may have more sociological implications than purely aesthetic ones. And Hollywood may want to take note because these are the kind of movies that tend to go head-to-head with their foreign rivals and beat them.