PIRATE copies of two Hong Kong blockbuster movies have been found circulating in a northeast province days before the movies were to be officially released there.
Copies of the movies - one starring Hong Kong's top comedian Stephen Chiau and another by Jackie Chan - were widely available in stores in Shenyang, Liaoning, early last month.
The semi-official China News Service said Chiau's movie, A Chinese Odyssey in Hong Kong, was available in Shenyang days before its premiere in local cinemas.
It said the Liaoning Provincial Film Company, which bought the copyright, first found several pirate copies in a school in Shenyang.
The company then tracked down the supplier and found as many as 22 copies of A Chinese Odyssey and four copies of Chan's Rumble in the Bronx.
The report did not say what happened to the suppliers.