These two movies took third and fifth place, respectively, on the summer box-office takings chart.

One and Only, which took sixth place, is a passionate tale about an underdog street dancer and his conflicted coach, respectively starring pop idol Wang Yibo and veteran actor Huang Bo. Meanwhile, Meg 2: The Trench, a Sino-US coproduction starring British actor Jason Statham and Chinese performer Wu Jing, which took seventh place on the chart, brings to life the prehistoric creature in the movie's title.

Among the top 10 movies on the chart, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was the only one from Hollywood. It took eighth place, followed by the parenting-themed movie Papa and the Chinese romance film Love Never Ends, which took ninth and tenth places, respectively.

Rao, from the China Film Critics Association, said this summer's film market witnessed a growing diversity of genres and more word-of-mouth reviews than in recent years — proof of the efforts made by Chinese filmmakers to sharpen their storytelling abilities and improve visual effects.

"The majority of mainstream audiences in China now consist of discerning young people. Only works that are truly imaginative and creative can capture their attention and entice them to visit the cinema," he said.

Barbie, considered by most industry observers to be one of the most popular Hollywood films in China's summer market, achieved acclaim and financial success. The movie, the first live-action adaptation of the iconic toy doll, rated 8.2 out of 10 on the review site Douban and grossed more than 250 million yuan.

However, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, sequel to an Oscar-winning animated movie, and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, starring Tom Cruise, failed to do as well as expected at the summer box office in China, respectively grossing 356 million yuan and 347 million yuan.

Yuan Yun'er, a critic based in Beijing, said that in the past, Hollywood movies with stellar casts and countless visual effects mostly earned more than 1 billion yuan. But domestic audiences' changing preferences indicate growing fatigue with familiar plotlines, and local theatergoers are now more interested in Chinese stories that offer fresh perspectives.