The much-anticipated film Mission: Impossible III may be kept out of China for "tarnishing the image of Shanghai," Shanghai-based newspaper Xinmin Evening News reported over the weekend.

 

With 20 percent of its scenes shot in China, the action-thriller starring Tom Cruise has been expected to achieve box office success here.

 

Cruise shot part of the film in Shanghai last year, and his Shanghai press conference attracted nearly 100 reporters from different media.

 

The film could well have offended the Shanghai authorities. In the film, when Cruise stepped into the metropolis, he saw rags and underwear drying outdoors in side streets, rather than views of Shanghai's shining skyscrapers. Shanghai's image was further tarnished by the film's awkward and slow-moving "Shanghai police," according to the Xinmin Evening News.

 

Industry insiders told the Xinmin Evening News the authorities were yet to make a decision on allowing the film into the Chinese mainland. The film's import has been delayed indefinitely, industry insiders said, adding that the ban was probably caused by the "negative Shanghai image."

 

Mission Impossible III, which is being screened worldwide, has been delayed on the Chinese mainland for "technical reasons," earlier reports said.

 

 

 

(Shenzhen Daily May 15, 2006)