China pulls "Da Vinci Code," approves "MI3"

BEIJING (Reuters) - China ordered cinemas to pull the plug on controversial blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code," saying it wanted to allow more exposure for homegrown films, but it also announced "Mission Impossible III" would be released next month. The decision on "The Da Vinci Code" came after calls from several groups representing the Chinese film industry, the official English-language China Daily said, although it suggested the movie could continue to be shown. "We are not against foreign films," the newspaper quoted an unnamed official with one of the film's Chinese distributors as saying. "My company will continue to arrange their screenings in China according to market demand." A media source told Reuters on Thursday that domestic newspapers had received a notice from the central government propaganda department telling them to stop all references to the movie in print. The source said the decision to pull the film had been taken after protests from Chinese religious groups. [more]