Wang Zhonglei, executive president of film company Huayi Brothers, says language barriers and cultural differences are still major hurdles for coproduced movies.

"But China is totally different from what it was 20 years ago. It has become one of the most important markets in the world," says Wang at a forum discussing coproductions at the festival.

Huayi Brothers was a Chinese producer of Big Shot's Funeral that also had Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia as a producer.

"European and US film companies can research what Chinese audiences would like if they want to make a movie for the global market now," Wang adds.

According to mtime.com, China's annual box office was merely 1.4 billion yuan ($223 million) in 1998, with around 25 percent, or 360 million yuan, earned by James Cameron's disaster epic Titanic. But the yearly figure in 2017 rocketed to 56 billion yuan, and four of the top five grossers were Chinese movies.

The Motion Picture Association of America says seven Hollywood movies, including The Fate of the Furious and Kong: Skull Island, earned more in China than in North America in 2017.