Shen Li, vice-general manager of Stellar International Cinemas Management Co Ltd's East China business, said, "I learned many things from Chen's training program, such as online ticket sales and marketing trends."

He attended the two-day training course on electronic marketing at Guowei in November. The course covered topics including online marketing, such as using WeChat, a mobile communications application by Tencent, and micro-blogs.

"We develop customized courses according to our clients' needs and invite experts or experienced professionals to give lessons," said Chen.

Unlike Guowei, some film or theater companies offer in-house training to their employees.

"About 60 percent of our theater managers come from our own talent pool," said Wu Bing, training manager at Wanda Cinema Line.

The company has attached great importance to internal personnel training, Wu said, adding it has established a comprehensive system that ranges from orientation to on-the-job training.

"Our program covers professional skills and management training, and our lecturers are experts from different business departments at our headquarters," Wu said.

The reserve of theater managers puts Wanda in a better position, especially as competition for qualified professionals increases, he added.

"By integrating internal personnel training with external recruitment, we have no problems placing qualified managers to newly opened theaters," said Wu.

Cao Xiaojing, a data research specialist at Wanda Cinema Line, said, "For external recruitment, we prefer those who have worked for hospitality or catering chain companies, because they have received some form of standardized training."