Summer box office heating up

Popularity of crime, action, sci-fi and animated films shows rich variety

With millions of students beginning their summer vacation, theaters across the country are raising the stakes to contend in the fiercely competitive market.

As of Sunday, the summer box office — the year's longest movie season, lasting from June 1 to Aug 31 — has raked in over 2.59 billion yuan ($361 million), close to last year's 2.8 billion yuan during the same period, according to the showbiz information live tracker Maoyan Pro.

Currently topping the summer charts is the crime thriller She's Got No Name, starring A-list actress Zhang Ziyi. Inspired by a 1945 domestic violence case, the film tells the story of an abused wife who is accused of murdering her husband in Shanghai.