A cinema official confirmed that the box-office record-breaker "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest" will not open on the mainland because it depicts people eating human flesh.

The movie, which stars Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, opened in the United States on Friday. It has grossed US$55.5 million, the biggest opening weekend in history.

"The movie didn't get the approval of screening from the state authority," said an official from Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's largest cinema chain.

The official declined to be named.

He said the main reason it had not got approval was because of scenes of cannibalism. However, the scenes are a key part of the movie's plot and cannot be easily changed or cut.

China does not have a movie-rating system. Often the government will suggest producers cut violence or sex scenes before it gives approval for the movie to be screened.

Producers of "Mission Impossible 3," which is expected to be released in mid-July, changed some dialogue and cut scenes to pave the film's way to the cinema. Scenes showing laundry hanging from washing lines and old people playing mahjong ended up on the cutting room floor.

"What a pity," Tian Wei, a movie fan, said of Pirates 2 not winning approval. "The movie is expected to be a box office hit. But now we have no choice but to watch it on DVD or on the Internet."

With a budget of around US$200 million, the movie - directed by Gore Verbinski and also starring, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley - centers on Captain Jack's quest to find a mysterious chest. Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat also joins the cast as a Chinese pirate captain. The movie held its premiere in California on June 24 and was released on Friday.

The series's first installment in 2003 - "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" grossed more than US$653 million worldwide at the box office. In China, when the first part screened in the same year, it chalked up 27 million yuan (US$3.37 million) around the country.