People walk past a screen showing Avatar: The Way of Water that is installed at a cinema in a shopping mall in Beijing on December 16, 2022. (Photo: CFP)

China saw its box office grossing 550 million yuan, or approximately $80 million, during this year's New Year holiday, according to the latest statistics from an online platform.

Figures from Dengta, a Chinese movie data information platform, showed Avatar: The Way of Water dominated screens across the country. The sequel to the 2009 Hollywood hit Avatar raked in more than 280 million yuan during the three-day holiday.

A poster for the movie Avatar: The Way of Water.

China's domestic movies including Someday or One Day and Better Man were also favored by movie goers, with the latter one becoming the only comedy movie to cross the 100 million yuan mark during the holiday.

On Sunday, or the first day of the year, there were 10,671 cinemas open nationwide, a record high since the end of last February.

The flourishing movie market has been regarded by analysts as an epitome of China's economic recovery since the country announced to lift several COVID-19 containment measures last month.

As China eases COVID-19 restrictions, theaters in China are hopeful that more movie goers are estimated to come during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

Among all the movies that will be aired during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, the most-anticipated one is the sequel to The Wandering Earth, a 2019 Chinese science fiction action film. It is set to hit screens on the first day of the Chinese traditional lunar new year, or January 22 this year.

The sequel to The Wandering Earth, a 2019 Chinese science fiction action film, will be released during the Spring Festival holiday.

Hailed as China's first homemade sci-fi film, The Wandering Earth raked in a record high 4.69 billion yuan since it hit screens during the Spring Festival holiday in 2019.