Piracy threatens Chow's film hit
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2004-12-29 09:52

The huge success of Stephen Chow's latest comedy "Kung Fu Hustle" has drawn concerns about the threat of piracy.

A copy of the poster of Chow's lastest kung fu comedy "Kung Fu Hustle" [ycwb]

Since opening on Thursday, the Hong Kong film has generated more than 64 million yuan (US$7.71 million) at the box office nationwide. The figure will increase by 15 million yuan daily, according to Columbia Pictures Inc, the film's backer.

Locally, Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the largest cinema chain in the city, said the film had taken in 8 million yuan at the box office so far.

It was released to coincide with the golden season of Christmas, New Year and the Spring Festival.

With a relatively large investment of US$20 million, the DVD and VCD release for "Kung Fu Hustle" is scheduled on February 1.

With the popularity of Chow's films, the movie's investor decided to sacrifice some of its DVD copyright profits to guarantee a higher return at the box office.

According to the owner of a DVD shop on Xincun Road, there were no pirated versions of the film available locally yet.

"A lot of customers have come in to ask about the movie," said the man surnamed Zhang. "There's no pirated version of the movie in our shop now," as he hinted that a pirated version could come out after January.

According to Wu Hehu, marketing director of Shanghai United Cinema Lines, pirated versions of the film could be found in Beijing and Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

"But due to timely combat measures in town, we haven't found them," he said.

He noted that most pirated movies, shot off the cinema screen, were of low quality and couldn't fully depict the digital effects of the movie.

Chow, the writer, producer and director, spent two years to make the action comedy.

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