Poster of "Hot Summer Days" [Photo:xinhuanet.com]

The romantic flick "Hot Summer Days" which was believed to be customized for the Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day (they were on the same day this year) has led the holiday market.

When the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday - the Golden Week 鈥?came to an end over the weekend, theater chains across the country also unveiled the box office records for the films featured in this period.

The weather was cold during the holiday, but the film market kept a high temperature. Box office records were doubled in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in the Golden Week compared with the numbers from the same period last year. Theater chains revealed a number of reasons for the increase: more new theaters; more new films; the cold weather keeping consumers indoors for their activities and New Year's Day falling on the same day as Valentine's day.

On New Year's Day, the only love-themed film "Hot Summer Days" took a box office of 10,440,000 yuan . It was as hot as "Avatar".

Some commentators said "Hot Summer Days" localized the style of the American film "Love Actually". Although there are several love threads in the film, the audience didn't feel tired as the stories progressed smoothly. The production of "Hot Summer Days" represented a new standard for Chinese commercial films. A box office record of 300,000 in four days was outstanding when there was fierce competition during the New Year and Valentine's Day period.