Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End , which opens in China on June 13, will be the last foreign film opening this month. The next blockbuster foreign film, Transformers, will be released a month later on July 14.
Beijing-based cinema circuit New Film Association and Dalian-based Wanda Cinema confirmed that from June 13-July 13 there will not be any new releases for foreign films imported on a revenue-sharing basis.
The one-month period, generally known as 'national film protection month', is understood to be an annual protection measure during the summer season. No revenue-sharing imported films are released during this period although flat-fee imported films are allowed to open.
Chinese-language films to benefitfrom the blackout are: Mr. Cinema, starring Karen Mok and Ronald Cheng, and Yau Nai Hoi's Eye In The Sky, which both open on June 21; Zhang Yibai's The Longest Night In Shanghai, which opens on June 26; and the China Film-Disney co-produced animation The Secret Of The Magic Gourd, and Hooked on You, starring Miriam Yeung and Eason Chan, which will both open on June 29.
The only imported film to be released in the blackout period is Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, to be released as a flat-fee imported film by Huaxia Film Distribution.
As for Hollywood fare, Transformers will by followed by Mr. Bean's Holiday (July 27), Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (August 15) and Shrek The Third as a digital-only release in late August
Three other Hollywood films - Live Free Or Die Hard, The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 - are awaiting censorship results.
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