A moviegoer in Shanghai poses for a picture before entering a cinema for director Guan Hu's war epic, The Eight Hundred. [Photo by Chen Yuyu/For China Daily]

China's box office sales reached 3.39 billion yuan ($495.6 million) in August, bringing the total box office for 2020 to 5.8 billion yuan, as the world's second-largest box-office market gradually recovers.

The number of moviegoers visiting theaters hit 95 million in August, according to figures released by China Film News.

Chinese war epic film "The Eight Hundred" led the Chinese mainland box office last month, raking in more than 1.9 billion yuan since its release on Aug 21. It is the first movie to make over 1 billion yuan in the Chinese market this year.

Directed by Guan Hu, the movie depicts Chinese soldiers' defense of a warehouse against the invading Japanese army during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937.

It was followed by "Love You Forever," a heart-warming romance film with an element of time travel, which grossed about 270 million yuan on its opening day.

The 3D, 4K restoration of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" ranked third in August, according to the newspaper.

Movie theaters in China started to reopen on July 20 following a months-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Industry insiders widely believe that the Chinese film market has recovered and is turning for the better, as several blockbusters have been scheduled for the upcoming National Day holiday in October.