Shortly before the October 2 deadline for submitting Oscar entries as a foreign language film, the Chinese heroic tale "The Warlords" was dropped from the bill.

Hong Kong-based Media Asia Films, one of the film's Chinese investors, announced the decision on Monday, citing disagreements among investors as the reason, Guangzhou Daily reported.

The Peter Chan film, starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu Jinglei, was jointly backed by a number of companies, among them Morgan Chan Films, led by Hollywood producer Andre Morgan.

The report says Morgan strongly opposes the film's Oscar application as a foreign language film. He has bigger plans in mind, to help the film gain nods for more coveted awards, after it hits American theaters early next year.

That means "The Warlords" will miss February's Academy Awards and have to wait another year.

Given the film's upcoming China release date in December, Chinese investors insist that an Oscar entry would greatly boost box-office ratings.

According to the rules of the Academy Awards, a film can only be submitted once.

Previous reports suggest that other two Chinese-language films, namely Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution" and Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises," will compete to be named final nominees for best foreign language film.
 
(CRI.cn September 19, 2007)