The producers of the blockbuster Infernal Affairs have rushed video copies into stores while the movie is still playing at the cinema, after their anti-piracy efforts were thwarted.
The makers of Hong Kong's most successful film last year, starring Andy Lau Tak-wah and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, had earlier released VCDs on the mainland - but only in Putonghua. They had hoped this would deter pirates from copying the discs ahead of its video release here.
But enterprising copyright cheats instead hired actors to dub the film into Cantonese. Some even added subtitles.
Infernal Affairs, which has already grossed more than $55 million at the box office, was released in Hong Kong on DVD and VCD last Saturday while it was still running at the Chinachem theatre in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Industry rules state that producers must not release video copies for a month after a film finishes on the big screen.
A source at Megastar Video Distribution Hong Kong - the distributors of the film's DVDs and VCDs - said the smuggled mainland copies forced producers to release the discs earlier.
'When Media Asia [Infernal Affairs' producer] was unable to secure an early showing date for the film in mainland theatres, they decided to release VCDs of the movie first,' he said.