And the country, including individual filmmakers, wants to address this anomaly by expanding into the global market.

Although Feng has yet to explain why he wants Hollywood writers for his films, his move is widely regarded as a signal by Chinese filmmakers that they want to compete for a share of audiences worldwide.

Huayi started to make forays into overseas markets as early as three years ago.

It all started with an agreement with leading South Korean studio Showbox to coproduce six movies in 2013.

Following this, the listed company last year signed a three-year deal with American studio STX Entertainment to jointly finance, produce and distribute at least 18 films by 2017.

The latest among the 18 movies is the supernatural thriller The Boy, which will be released on the Chinese mainland on April 1. Set in a remote English village, the tale narrates a young nanny's horrified experience to find a life-sized doll was actually alive in her employers' home.

Besides its international forays, Huayi Brothers also has other plans.

It intends to release eight big movies in the remaining three quarters of this year, following up on its January hit Mr Six and February's romance Run For Love.

Among the movies we can expect from it are the Stanley Kwan-produced New York New York; the romance epic The Wasted Times, co-starring A-listers Ge You and Zhang Ziyi; and Feng Xiaogang's avant-garde comedy I Am Not Madame Bovary.

Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn