The city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province saw 16.89 million visits to its movie theaters over the past year, and ticket sales of 576 million yuan ($92 million), making it one of the mainland's Top 10 cities in box office revenues.

The Culture and Art Center in the Industrial Park (SIP) was the biggest box office winner, with more than 40 million yuan in tickets for the year, while Jinyi Cinema, at Water Park, came in second at 27.7 million yuan.

The city's film industry her has grown rapidly in recent years, from 246 million yuan in 2011 to around 300 million yuan in 2012 and more than 400 million yuan in 2013.

An industry insider attributes the rapid growth to an increase in the number of cinemas. Of the 32 cinemas across the city, nine were added last year. Discount offers are another reason to bring more people into cinemas.