'Spider-Man 3' will land in China before N. America

March 30, 2007 The move is designed to secure a strong opening at the boxoffice before pirated copies have a chance to flood the market. Yuan Wenqiang, president of state-run China Film Group's Film Import & Export Corp., said that releasing Columbia Pictures' "Spider-Man 3" in China first -- during the peak moviegoing season around the weeklong national holiday that kicks off May 1 -- was a testament to the growing importance of China's theatergoers in the eyes of Hollywood. Increasingly, Hollywood studios choose to release big films in China on or near their worldwide premiere dates to stem losses from piracy that increase the longer a film is in theaters.

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