"Red Cliff", reportedly Asia's most expensive ever film, earned 27 million yuan ($US3.91 million) at the box office on its first day of release, setting a record among Chinese-made movies.

The first installment of the two-part US$80 million epic, adapted from the classic historic fiction "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," hit cinemas in Asia on Thursday.

Its opening day box-office takings were the highest on the mainland so far this year, and higher than last year's Hollywood blockbuster "Transformers," which took 22.41 million yuan on its first day.

Weng Li, spokesman for the film's main investor, China Film Group Corporation, said that the group was confident of continued strong box-office returns.

"The romantic epic fits the taste of audiences of all ages and the upcoming summer vacation will bring more people to the cinema. I believe more records will be set," he said.

On its first day of release, the movie by Hollywood-based Hong Kong director John Woo also earned 17 million New Taiwan dollars (US$560,000) in Taiwan and HK$2 million (US$256,000) in Hong Kong.

The film features several leading Asian stars including award-winning Hong Kong actor Tony Leung, Taiwan supermodel Lin Chi-ling, Taiwanese-Japanese heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro and leading mainland actor Zhang Fengyi.

The movie revolves around the epic Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD in China's Three Kingdoms period. The film's second episode is set to be released in December.

(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2008)