A scene from The Mermaid. [Photo/IC]

Chinese film The Mermaid has broken China's box office record, overtaking locally-made Monster Hunt and Hollywood action movie Furious 7, as domestic and international film battle over China's rapidly growing cinema market.

The comedy by Hong Kong director Stephen Chow pulled in around 2.47 billion yuan ($379 million) by Friday night, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday, citing official data from the film industry watchdog.

All debuting on Feb 8, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, and made in China, sci-fi comedy The Mermaid, comedy-action From Vegas to Macau III, and The Monkey King 2, generated a collective 660 million yuan in ticket sales on their first day of release. That surpassed the single-day record of 425 million yuan set on July 18 by last year's biggest hits Monster Hunt, Jianbin Man and Monkey King: Hero is Back.

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