The two Chinese blockbusters Let the Bullets Fly and If You Are the One 2 making over 400 million yuan (US$60.40 million) at the box office last week is a boost for the film market as a whole. Though the going may not be as good as in December in terms of blockbusters, local filmmakers have high expectations of the film market in January.

A poster of Shaolin. [China.org.cn]

Though there is no phenomenal movie like Avatar as at the same time last year, imported films like Tron: Legacy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are still likely to perform well in box office. However, domestic productions Shaolin, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf and My Own Swordsman are the three films expected to grab major attention.

Shaolin, set for release on January 19, is already creating a buzz. The movie, with its all-star cast of Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse and Fan Bingbing and theme of the Shaolin Temple and martial arts, is awaited with much anticipation by cinema lovers.

Set in the 1920s wartime in China, it tells the story of a man (Lau) who has been betrayed by friends and lost his wife and son, eventually converting to Buddhism and protecting the Shaolin Temple and its culture.

With a theme similar to The Shaolin Temple (1982) starring Jet Li, there are doubts about Shaolin's originality. "The Shaolin Temple (1982) is too well-established in Chinese people's hearts. Therefore, we have created a brand new story which has nothing to do with the 1982 version," explained the film's director Benny Chan.

According to Chan, Shi Yongxin, the current abbot of the Shaolin Temple has granted the team the copyright for using the Shaolin Temple in the film and offered help as an advisor for the film. The crew spent 20 million yuan (US$3.02 million) to replicate the actual size of the Shaolin Temple for a realistic mise-en-scene.

"The Shaolin culture is the essence of Chinese culture, which we should introduce to more people," said Jackie Chan at Tuesday's press conference. "We shouldn't make films like 3D Spiderman or Batman, but good kungfu films which we are good at," the action star added.

A poster of the third make of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf [China.org.cn]

The animation series Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf had done well in 2009 and 2010's New Year box office. Raking in over 100 million yuan (US$15.09 million) at the box office last year, it became the only Chinese animation film to be cross the 100-million-yuan mark.