China passes on Chan's 'Rush Hour 3'; realizes Chris Tucker is irritating

Min Lee, AP Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG — Jackie Chan's new action comedy, Rush Hour 3, won't be shown in China.
"We think the market for the movie is relatively weak," Xiao Ping, a vice president at state-run China Film Group's import and export arm, said Tuesday.

The Chinese government carefully screens foreign media content and allows only about 20 foreign films a year to be shown.

Ping said Rush Hour 3 was up against some tough competition.

China has already imported several Hollywood blockbusters, including Transformers,Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

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But Hollywood trade publication Variety reported on its Asian website Tuesday that Chinese officials believe Rush Hour 3, which stars Chan and Chris Tucker as buddy cops taking on a Chinese crime family in Paris, is "fundamentally anti-Chinese."

Xiao said she didn't know whether film executives were concerned about scenes of Chinese gangsters.

New Line Cinema said it had no comment.

Chan, 53, and Tucker, 34, have co-starred in all three Rush Hour movies. The trilogy, directed by Brett Ratner, began in 1998.

The loss of the China market isn't a major blow to filmmakers. Chinese box-office income remains much smaller than in the U.S. A movie that makes tens of millions of U.S. dollars in China can be considered a hit, while U.S. box office winners can make hundreds of millions.

Rush Hour 3 is set for release in the U.S. on Aug. 10.