Slumdog Millionaire opens in China

Updated at: 1725 PST, Thursday, March 26, 2009

BEIJING: Oscar darling ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has landed a coveted spot on China's list of 20 foreign films allowed to be screened in its theatres. Danny Boyle, who captured the director's Academy Award for the film, which also won the best-picture Oscar this year, is attending the movie's premiere in Beijing. It's hard for many Hollywood movies to break into the Chinese market because of the quota and also the rigid censorship process; Chinese authorities often reject films that may contain negative portrayals of China, its people, scenes of violence, or sensitive topics such as Tibet. "The movie will be available at cinemas nationwide," Zhang Xiaosong, an official with the China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), told reporters. Slumdog Millionaire will be shown in some 2,000 cinemas across China. The story of an orphan from the slums of Mumbai who rises to become a game-show winner won eight Oscars. The British film, made on a modest budget of $15 million US, has already raked in more than $250 million US in box office receipts.