And in October, Bona signed a letter of intent for film co-production with Fox International Productions, a division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.

It has also signed a co-production agreement with Universal Studios and Working Title Films.

"Despite these achievements, our financial results were affected by a weak fourth quarter, which was largely attributable to the delayed release of The Grandmasters, lower than expected box office receipts for The Last Tycoon and increased start-up costs associated with new theater openings," said Yu Dong, its founder, chairman and CEO.

Its distribution business slowed in the period, with revenue dropping to $64.1 million from $94.9 million in 2011.

Bona distributed 15 films during the year, including two imported films it also helped to market.

Collaboration with international companies will boost Bona's production and distribution businesses this year, becoming its major profit drivers, according to Liu Cuiping, a research manager at EntGroup Consulting, a Beijing-based entertainment industry consultancy firm.

China's box office revenues reached 16.8 billion yuan last year, a surge of nearly 30 percent year-on-year, with domestic films contributing less than half of the figure for the first time in four years, according to figures from EntGroup.

huangying@chinadaily.com.cn