Director Feng Xiaogang (right) talks to author Liu Zhenyuan at a forum.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He says that local talent is exploring genres that Hollywood has dominated for decades, like sci-fi tales and effects-studded epics, pointing to new projects and forthcoming movies promoted on the opening ceremony's red carpet as evidence.

The movies include Jackie Chan's sci-fi thriller Bleed Steel, Louis Koo's alien-themed comedy Meow and Yang Mi's and Wallace Huo's time-travel adventure, Reset.

Ning Hao, director of 2014's top-grossing domestic movie Breakup Buddies, unveiled the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) project to develop sci-fi franchises.

The project's first movie is Fengkuang de Waixingren (Crazy Aliens). It's based on novelist Liu Cixin's short story Xiangcun Jiaoshi (A Village School Teacher).

Liu, the first Chinese to win a Hugo award for The Three-Body Problem, says the script is different from the novel but links China's rural life to outer space.

Meanwhile, revolutionary movies, which once dominated China's screens, are also making changes to appeal to the youth.

Works like The Founding of An Army are using young stars to showcase the history of the Communist Party's fighting forces.