The action comedy Rush Hour 3 will not be released in China, despite starring Chinese star Jackie Chan along with sidekick, American comedian Chris Tucker, officials from the China Film Group told the Nanfang City News yesterday.

Yuan Wenqiang, the President of China Film Group's import and export branch, said, "We saw no good market potential in this film, and thus decided not to import it."

China has already brought over several Hollywood blockbusters this summer, including Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers, and the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Transformers has been the biggest success story, pulling in is 235 million yuan (US$31.04 million) at box offices in China by last Sunday.

Even industry insiders hesitated to predict Rush Hour 3 would be a success given its release 6 years after the series' last outing. Too many blockbusters are crowding the market China, which might squeeze Rush Hour 3 out straight to the garbage can despite starring Jackie Chan as well as Zhang Jingchu, a rising Chinese starlet.

China only allows 20 foreign films into domestic market per year.

Hollywood trade publication Variety suggested Tuesday that a scene where stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker fight a Chinese crime family in Paris had prompted the banning of the movie but this was denied by China Film Group.

Jackie Chan, 53, and Chris Tucker, 34, have co-starred in every part of the Rush Hour trilogy directed by Brett Ratner since 1998. Rush Hour 3 will be released in the United States on August 10.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Rui August 3, 2007)