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".

Chow Yun-Fat and his wife

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn May 18, 2006)