Confucius, largest domestic screening

The pulling of Avatar's 2-D version from Chinese cinemas will make some space for a new domestic film on the ancient thinker Confucius, but whether that will boost the film's box office is still doubtful.

Confucius, a biopic starring Chow Yun-fat and Zhou Xun, premiered on Friday, one day before Avatar is to be pulled off the 2-D screens in China.

Rumors around China were that James Cameron's sci-fi extravaganza was pulled off the screens to make way for Confucius, but that was soon denied by Zhang Hongsen, vice president of the State Film Bureau, the industry's top regulator.