Hero: Breaks China box office records after 3 weeks

BEIJING (Reuters) - Acclaimed director Zhang Yimou's star-studded martial arts epic, "Hero", has smashed China's box office record for tickets sold, the movie's mainland distributor said on Tuesday.

The film, about a plot to kill the brutal but venerated emperor, Qin Shihuang, who united China in 221 B.C., had raked in 210 million yuan ($25.37 million) since its release three weeks ago, Yu Yuxi, general manager of Beijing New Picture Film Co Ltd, which co-produced the film, said.

"Life or Death Decision", an anti-corruption film that took in 120 million yuan in ticket sales, was the previous highest-grossing domestic film. Many state employees were required to watch it.

The Hollywood hit "Titanic" still ranks as the biggest money-maker in China, where it took in a record 320 million yuan. Yu said "Hero" had already sold more tickets than the U.S. film but ticket prices for "Titanic" were twice those of "Hero".

Beijing New Film set the minimum ticket price for "Hero" at 35 yuan. Theatres charged most audiences around twice that to view "Titanic" because it was three hours long, she said.

Rampant piracy has decimated the Chinese box office and stunted the theatre industry's growth. Video discs of Hollywood films can cost $1 or less and appear on the streets within days of a movie's U.S. release.

Yu said vigilant steps to prevent piracy, including requiring viewers to pass through metal detectors at early screenings, were a key factor in "Hero's" success.

But illegal DVDs of "Hero" have started to appear throughout China and are expected to begin eating into theatres' profits, the Beijing Evening News said.

Zhang is famous for such films as "Red Sorghum" and "To Live", but "Hero", starring kung-fu hotshot Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fame, is his first attempt at the action genre perfected in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

His latest film cost $31 million to make, more than twice what Taiwan director Ang Lee spent on his Oscar winner "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Miramax, a unit of Walt Disney Co, is distributing the film outside Asia.