China to beat Cannes for first premiere of 'Da Vinci Code'
(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-17 19:14 China's gala showing of "The
Da Vinci Code" on Wednesday was set to be the world's first, beating the
official Cannes premier by an hour in a move that underscores Hollywood's
efforts to woo Chinese viewers.
Invitations to the China debut, at the upscale Oriental Plaza Mall in
downtown Beijing, said the film was scheduled to start at 9 p.m., about an hour
before the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Cannes is still considered the "official worldwide premier," said Li Chow,
general manager in Beijing for its distributor, Columbia TriStar Film
Distributors International and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
But the one-hour head start electrified Chinese media. The Beijing News
newspaper declared: "China to be the First with Beijing Premiere of 'Da Vinci
Code."'
"I wouldn't be surprised if more films aren't going to be released in China
as the 'global first' in the future," said Wang Ran, chief executive of China
eCapital Corp., a Beijing media consulting firm.
While China accounts for a small fraction of Hollywood's global earnings,
American filmmakers have a huge and growing interest in courting the Chinese
market. Box office sales hit a record in China last year, reaching 2 billion
yuan (US$247 million).
Four of the top-ten biggest money-makers were foreign, with Warner Brothers'
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" the No. 2 earner, bringing in 93 million
yuan (US$11.5 million;euro9 million).
While "The Da Vinci Code" marks a new high in Hollywood's marketing effort,
it has increasingly been giving China special attention. Last year U.S. studios
included Chinese cities in the simultaneous worldwide releases of the latest
"Harry Potter" film and "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith."
Foreign studios hope that the attention will encourage the government to
allow more co-productions and ease limits on the imports of foreign titles, said
Wang, the media consultant.
Under current regulations, only 20 foreign movies per year are allowed to
share in Chinese box office revenues.
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