The growth of cinemas in China is seen in its rising theatrical box office receipts, Ars Technica reports.

Theatrical box office receipts in China set a new sales record in 2012. According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), box office receipts of $2.75 billion represent a 31-percent growth of 2011. China has more than 11,000 cinemas countrywide and plans to double that figure by 2015.

The real coup de grâce, though, was when {Christopher Dodd, chief exec of MPAA] said that 2012 “was a great year for the film industry,” as combined international box office receipts outside the United States and Canada reached $23.1 billion in 2012, “up nearly a billion dollars compared to the previous year.”