The ticket cost him 30 yuan, which could otherwise have bought about 30 bowls of noodles then, Ye remembered.

Today, however, many young urbanites do not hesitate to fork out 80 yuan for a seat in a multiplex.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's urban population increased by 20.96 million annually from 2002 to 2011, with about 51.3 percent of Chinese living in cities by the end of 2011.

As 10 new screens are being installed each day and cinemas are gaining popularity in small and medium-sized cities, the nation of 15,000 screens has become the world's second-largest film market after the United State.

Statistics from a survey by Entgroup Consulting in 2012 suggested that China's 284 third- and fourth-tier cities accounted for 34 percent of the country's total ticket sales, while the first-tier cites accounted for 37 percent.

The survey suggested the market share of smaller cities would rise to 42 percent by the end of 2015, as markets in bigger cities had mostly saturated.

Domestic movies were particularly welcomed in the third- and fourth-tier cities, the survey report said.

Young people in these emerging cities are mostly optimistic about -- and interested in -- domestic films, and this promises a rosy market outlook, according to Shi Chuan, vice president of the Shanghai Film Association and a professor at Shanghai University.

Peter Chan, the Hong Kong film director who shot drama "American Dreams in China," said he felt the majority of Chinese, who were more likely to choose cost-efficient blockbusters in the past decade, had changed and were more thirsty to see their lives and dreams represented on screen.

"The Chinese are nowadays more confident to see dramas based on their own lives," Chan said.

Film industry reform

The Chinese began dreaming of their own films and cinemas in 1905, when three reels of film were produced from a shoot in a Beijing photography shop's courtyard of a Peking Opera star performing "Dingjun Mountain."

For over a century, the domestic film industry has rode the waves of differing fortunes.

But the market was on a downward spiral until the nation began transforming its cinemas from state-owned enterprises into private operations in 2002 amid a broader shift in the country from a planned economy to a market economy.

In 2002, following China's accession to the World Trade Organization, authorities allowed greater cross-border trade and gave private capital more play. Restructuring of the state-owned film corporations and establishment of private studios also brought the domestic film industry into a rapid path of commercialization.

That year, "Hero," directed by internationally prestigious director Zhang Yimou, became a hit both home and abroad with box offices, raking in a record high of 117 million yuan worldwide.

The star-studded, big-budget movie, featuring Jet Li, Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi, was seen as a turning point at which the nation's film industry stepped into the big time.

Since "Hero," the domestic film industry has witnessed what industry insiders have dubbed "the third phase of big-budget movies" featuring special effects and expensive 3D or IMAX formats, according to Ye.

But a sudden slump in 2012 as well as the success of low-cost comedy "Lost in Thailand" signaled yet another turnaround.