The Da Vinci Code, the film adapted from Dan Brown's
best-selling novel, made its world debut in Beijing on Wednesday
evening. Famous Chinese celebrities including Chow Yun-Fat, Sun
Nan, He Jiong, Tao Hong, Lu Chuan, and executives from China Film
Group Corporation and Columbia Pictures attended the premiere of
the film that has sparked international controversy.?
About four-and-a-half hours before it was screened at this
year's Cannes Film Festival, the big-budget Hollywood thriller
wowed the Chinese audience with performances from Oscar-winning Tom
Hanks and France's Audrey Tautou.
US director Ron Howard's US$125 million film suggests that Jesus
married Mary Magdalene and had a child together, descendants of
whom are still alive today.
With a shining cast and controversial plot, the movie is
expected to be a massive hit both because of the novel's worldwide
sales record of over 40 million copies and protests from religious
circles.
The film was panned by many critics in Cannes for its "grim",
"unwieldy" and "plodding" storytelling, but Chinese distributors
are optimistic that Chinese audiences will give it the
thumbs-up.?
Xu Bing, a spokesman with the China Film Group Corporation
(CFGC), the movie's China's distributor, believes that the movie is
likely to reap over 60 million yuan (US$7.5 million) at the
box-office. Other blockbusters scheduled for screening during the
summer movie season include Mission Impossible
III, which finally got the go-ahead from China's film bureau
yesterday.
CFGC has decided to show the movie simultaneously in big cities
across the country with a distribution of over 380 copies in more
than 30 cinema chains, Xu told Xinhua News Agency last night.
Hong Kong movie star Chow Yun-Fat, who is taking a break from
shooting The City of Golden Armor by Zhang Yimou, said he
was excited about watching the film in advance.
Despite protests from Christians in several countries around the
world, Li Chow, General Manager of the Columbia Tristar Film
Distributors International China, said no part of the movie was cut
for its China release.
The Da Vinci Code has sparked controversy over its
"sacrilegious" plot. Some religious groups in India have called on
people to protest against the movie. Singapore's national film
administration gave the film an NC-16 rating on the grounds that it
is not suitable for children without parental discretion. In
Britain, the film's producers were forced to make changes to its
musical and sound effects so that "children aged under 12 could
watch the film accompanied by their parents".
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Chow Yun-Fat and his
wife
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(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn May 18, 2006)
