Statistics from box-office tracker Maoyan show that Taizhou's box office grosses 369 million yuan last year, edging up 1.54 percent from 2018. [Photo/taizhou.co.cn]

Taizhou's box office grossed 369 million yuan ($55 million) last year, edging up 1.54 percent from 2018, according to statistics from box-office tracker Maoyan.

Last year, the top five highest grossing movies in Taizhou were Avengers: Endgame, Wandering Earth, Neza, Me and My Motherland, and The Captain.

Nine of the 10 movies which earned more than 10 million yuan in the city were domestic releases.

An employee surnamed Ma who works at Bona International Cinema in Wenling, a county-level city of Taizhou, pointed out the increasingly popular domestic films have given audiences more choices, and quality is becoming a major factor in a movie's box office performance.

Yuan Wangpeng, manager of Xinchonghe Cinema, revealed that there is an increasing number of local young people choosing to watch movies more than once, a phenomenon which was previously only seen in larger cities.

Taizhou is currently home to more than 80 cinemas, according to Maoyan. Recently, a cinema designed for the visually impaired was opened in the city.