China leapfrogs Japan to become 'world's 2nd largest movie market'

London, Mar 23 : China surpassed Japan in 2012 to become the world's second-largest movie market, a report has said.

According to Motion Picture Association of America, China's box office revenues surged 36 percent to 2.7 billion dollars in 2012.

The surge underscores China's importance as a key market for Hollywood's moviemakers, the BBC reports.

According to the report, the rise came after China eased some restrictions on the number of foreign films allowed to be screened.

Last year, it agreed to allow an additional 14 Imax or 3D films over and above the quota of 20 foreign films.

Beijing also increased the amount of revenue foreign movies are allowed to collect from distribution in China to 25 percent of overall ticket sales from the earlier limit of 13 percent.