The sci-fi thriller "Inception" will open in the Chinese mainland on September 21, facing a competition with 4 local films at the box offices.

A poster of Inception?[CRI]

Owing to the massive appeal of acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the mind-bending sci-fi spectacular which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page has topped the North American box office for three weeks, since it opened on July 16.

Meanwhile, "Inception" rose to the top of box-office tables around the globe as it was released in more than 20 countries and regions, including France, Japan, Britain and Germany. Besides its commercial success, the blockbuster has also achieved high scores from the media and audiences on the popular movie Web site IMDB.com. Nearly 90 thousand users gave the film a top score. The score for "Inception" is now tied with that of the previous chart-toppers, "The Godfather" and "The Shawshank Redemption".

The work took "The Dark Knight" director 10 years to complete. "The Dark Knight" earned more than $500 million at the North American box office alone.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, an espionage expert who has a highly specialized way of stealing corporate secrets: he extracts them from within the dreams of his targets.

"The Love of the Hawthorn Tree" directed by internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, will hit cinemas on September 16.

Next, Andrew Lau's "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" will open on September 21, the same day as "Inception".

Tsui Hark's suspense thriller "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" will be released on September 29, a day after John Woo's latest work "Reign of Assassins".