From top: Scenes from Rise of the Legend, Fury and Gone with the Bullets Photos: CFP

 A scene from Women Who Flirt Photo: Courtesy of Huayi Bros.

As November comes to an end and December begins, the Chinese film market enters the most important time of the year: the New Year holiday period, which lasts through to the end of the Chinese New Year holidays. It's during this time that cinemas will see the fiercest competition for audiences' wallets. 

This year, the New Year holiday period will last quite a while, only coming to an end in the beginning of March 2015, which means the war for the box office is set to take place on a number of battlefields: Christmas, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and The Lantern's Festival. These holidays are traditional money-makers for Chinese studios. For that reason, December sees a huge number of domestic blockbusters, while only featuring a few foreign films.

Chinese blockbusters

A glance at the major films set to release in December gives us an idea just how fierce this competition is going to get. No less than three renowned directors have chosen to release their big budget films this month.

The war's first salvo comes from director John Woo and his epic drama The Crossing, which will release on December 2. The film is an adaptation of the true tragedy of the steamship Taiping, which sank after colliding with another ship on its way from Shanghai to Taiwan and leading to the deaths of more than 1,500 people, including dignitaries, celebrities and refugees.

The film stars an A-list cast from three countries; Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming and Tong Dawei from China, Song Hye-kyo from South Korea and Takeshi Kaneshiro and Masami Nagasawa from Japan.

Another film based on real events, Gone with the Bullets, is set to release on December 18. Directed by Jiang Wen and starring Ge You, Shu Qi and Zhou Yun, the film is set in 1920s Shanghai and depicts the events around the robbery and murder of one of Shanghai's most famous courtesans of the time by Yan Ruisheng, a former student up to his neck in gambling debt.

The film marks the second in Jiang's "Beiyang Period Trilogy" of films that take place at a time when China was split between the North and the South. His last film, Let the Bullets Fly (2010), the first in the trilogy, was well received by critics and audiences.

Well-known action film director Tsui Hark ups the ante this month by filming his newest movie The Taking of Tiger Mountain. Yet another period film, it is set in the winter of 1946, right after the end of the eight-year-long War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), and tells the story of several soldiers fighting against bandits in Northeast China.

Gathering together an all-star cast, including Zhang Hanyu, Leung Ka-fai, Yu Nan and Lin Gengxin, the film is scheduled to be released on December 24.

Comedies and others

Besides epic dramas, there are also a number of comedies and romance films for those who just want to relax and laugh out loud at the movies.

Women Who Flirt is among the top choices as it's a rom-com that straddles the border between the two genres. Starring well-known actress Zhou Xun and heartthrob Huang Xiaoming, the film was directed by Hong Kong's Pang Ho-cheung, well known for making several critically acclaimed rom-coms over the past few years, such as Love in the Buff and Vulgaria, as well as horror film Dream Home.

The film tells the story of a tomboy who has been secretly in love with her best friend since they were classmates in school. When this best friend gets a cute girlfriend, Zhou's character makes attempts to be "girly" in order to win him back. The film actually releases on Friday this month.

Also in cinemas on the same day is Blind Massage, directed by mainland director Lou Ye. The film takes a close look at the lives of blind masseuses and how their lives are changed when they find romance. The film won six awards, including Best Feature Film and Best New Actor, at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan on Saturday. It also won a Silver Bear at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.

For lovers of kungfu flicks who want to learn more about oriental heroes, you might want to check out Rise of the Legend. The film features legendary Chinese hero and martial arts master Huang Feihong, who has been portrayed countless times in various TV and film works, most notably by kungfu star Jet Li.

This new version stars rising actors and actresses, including Peng Yuyan, Jing Boran, Wang Luodan and Yang Ying, and has been in theaters since November 21.

Oversea stragglers

While there are no new foreign films scheduled for release in December since this period is traditionally set aside for domestic films, there are still some leftovers from November to enjoy.

Fury, starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman and Jon Bernthal and directed by David Ayer, is a war film that tells the story of a tank crew fighting in the final days of World War II.

A US Army staff sergeant nick-named "Wardaddy" (Brad Pitt) commands an M4A3E8 Sherman tank he calls Fury and its five-man crew made up of veteran soldiers.

Originally released in the US on October 17, the film debuted in domestic theaters on November 21.

It currently has a score of 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. 

"This film is one World War II movie with an emphasis on the horrors of war and which minimizes the heroic aspects of being a soldier. In this film, war really is hell," Robert Roten from Laramie Movie Scope commented on the site.

Other November movies sure to still be around in the first few weeks of December include the animated film Penguins of Madagascar from Dreamworks and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.