Some 40 domestic and foreign films will make the upcoming prime pre-Lunar New Year film season in China the busiest one in history.

Chen Zheng, a press officer with the China Film South Cinema Circuit's Saga Cinema, said Wednesday he was surprised December alone would see three domestic blockbusters compete for audience.

"We will have a headache in February because the Valentine's Day coincides with the Spring Festival (lunar new year) holiday," he said. "There are too many films to manage."

The period from late December to early February is usually the busiest time of the year at China's box office, as many domestic films debut.

The films to expect include Zhang Yimou's comedy-thriller A Simple Noodle Story, and James Cameron's epic motion picture Avantar. They are scheduled to debut on December 11 and January 2 respectively.

These films are expected to share a box office of 2 billion yuan ($292 million) in the season. In 2008, the box office of the peak season hit 1.5 billon yuan, almost one third of the overall box office of the year.

To avoid the crowdedness, some filmmakers had chosen to advance the debut date of their films to late November, extending the usually two month-long prime season by nearly one month.

Panda Express, a comedy depicting the transport of a panda toa general in Song Dynasty (960-1279) for banquet entertainment, will be the first one to be shown. It is set to hit screen on Friday.

Professor Yin Hong, with the school of Journalism and Communication of Tsinghua University, attributed the extended film season to limited screens in the country.

"There are only some 4,000 screens in China," he said. "They are far from enough to match with the rapidly increasing number of new film."

Feng Xiaogang's Jia Fang Yi Fang, or The Dream Factory in 1997, was the first film produced for the Lunar New Year film season. It took about 36 million yuan in box office.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2009)