China pips Cannes with "Da Vinci Code" premiere

BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) China, in dispute with the Vatican over its appointment of bishops without papal approval, hosted a premiere of ''The Da Vinci Code'' hours before the gala opening at Cannes, Xinhua news agency today said.

''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,'' Xinhua said in an overnight report.

Kicking off the annual Cannes film festival, Ron Howard's adaptation of the Dan Brown bestseller, starring Tom Hanks, has been panned by most critics.

The novel has enraged religious groups because one of its characters argues that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had a child by her, and that elements within the Catholic Church resorted to murder to hide the truth.

Xu Bing, a spokesman with the China Film Group Corporation, the film's China distributor, estimated it would reap over 60 million yuan (7.5 million dollars) in China despite the country's roaring trade in fake copies of most Hollywood blockbusters.

Available on street corners, they sell for about 1 dollars each.

''The company has decided to show the movie simultaneously in big cities across the country with over 380 copies in over 30 cinema lines,'' Xu told Xinhua at the Beijing premiere where the film was shown four-and-a-half hours before it hit the screen in Cannes.

The DVD bootleggers, meanwhile, were busy at their copying machines. ''We still need three or four more days,'' said one hawker outside a five-star hotel when asked if he had ''The Da Vinci Code''.

Li Chow, general manager of the Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International China, said no part of the movie had been cut for its release in China.

China's state-backed Catholic Church has appointed three bishops in recent weeks without the blessing of the Pope.

China's 10 million Catholics are split between an underground church loyal to the Holy See and the state-approved church, which does not have formal ties with the Vatican.

REUTERS SB DS1110