"Titanic," the Hollywood blockbuster that sailed off with 11 Oscars, has opened to mixed reviews in China - despite an endorsement by President Jiang Zemin.
Audiences flocked to cinemas in Beijing when the most expensive movie ever made went on general release in 18 top theatres in the Chinese capital on Thursday. It opened in Shanghai earlier this month.Tickets are going for a record high price of 70 yuan ($8.5), and have been selling out quickly.
But not everybody has been impressed.
"People's reaction to the movie varies," the China News Service reported on Friday.
"People who like the movie say they mainly appreciate its `sad and beautiful love story, stirring scenes, huge production and moving music'," it said.
"People who feel disappointed say `the story is very old, the performances are clumsy, there are problems with the plot and there is not much food for thought'."
The China Youth Daily quoted one Beijing moviegoer as saying: "The importance does not lie in the huge production. I paid more attention to the feeling and values."
One girl on her way out of a Beijing cinema was moved to tears, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. "If I were on the ship I would have died with them," she was quoted as saying between sobs.
President Jiang, who heads the Chinese Communist Party, has lauded the film as an example of capitalist enterprise. "Titanic" cost $200 million to make, but has sold more than $1.2 billion worth of tickets world-wide.
"That's venture capital, eh?," Jiang was quoted as saying by one Chinese newspaper.
At the National People's Congress in Beijing last month, Jiang broke the ice with a group of awed Hong Kong delegates by asking cheerfully: "Have you seen the recent movie, `Titanic'?"
But he confessed that "Titanic" was not on his all-time favorite list, which included "Gone With The Wind," and "A Song To Remember."
Newsstands in Beijing are overflowing with "Titanic" magazines, books and pictures.
Street vendors are doing a brisk trade in "Titanic" memorabilia - including watches featuring pictures on their dials of Jack and Rose, the hero and heroine.
Two million yuan has been spent promoting the movie in Beijing alone, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "Titanic" was likely to set a box office record of 10-15 million yuan ($1.2-$1.8 million) in the capital, it said.