China's lucrative market has become a great attraction for filmmakers around the world in recent years. But domestic talent is now looking overseas: So can Chinese-language movies make their presence felt abroad?

The numbers are not promising. While China last year earned record box-office receipts of 44.1 billion yuan ($6.68 billion), up nearly 50 percent year on year, only 2.77 billion yuan, or 6 percent, came from overseas.

With the Year of the Monkey on the horizon, China is pinning its hopes on the Monkey King, the best-known monkey in the history of Chinese literature and cinema.