Pirated DVDs of Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers are already on sale around Shanghai despite the extensive efforts of the renowned director to protect his film.

Zhang took similar precautions for his last film, Hero, and it was also quickly available on DVD.

"We've made marks on each print and all three pirated versions proved to be from the No. 56 print, airing in Zhujiang Cinema Lines in Guangdong Province," said Zhang Weiping, the film's producer. "The piracy is earlier and more widespread than it was for Hero."

Cinema managers say they don't know how to stop the rampant piracy.

"It's very hard since we cannot open audience members' bags to check for cameras," said Gao Rong, marketing manager of Shanghai Cinema World.

Zhang Weiping said that the film had taken in 55 million yuan (US$6.6 million) at the box office as of yesterday, despite negative reviews.

But Bao Yifan, vice marketing manager of the city's leading United Cinema Lines, said the piracy would hurt the movie's box-office revenue considerably. "The first week is crucial for a movie and the pirated copies appeared on the fourth day of release, much earlier than expected."

"Pirated DVDs sometimes show up on the day of the premiere or even before the premiere," said Li Xiaojun, a producer at the Shanghai Film Group. "Piracy creates a vicious circle for the Chinese film industry. Unsatisfactory box office will diminish the enthusiasm of investors and producers, which will ultimately affect the quality of future movies."

Small comfort might be found in the fact that some DVD vendors say the current copies of Flying Daggers are too poor to sell.

"All the present versions are shot in cinemas," said one DVD storeowner. "The quality is so poor that I don't sell them in case customers are not satisfied. The high-quality DVDs will come in two weeks."

(Shanghai Daily July 21, 2004)