Birdman to land at Beijing gathering

Michael Keaton in a scene from Birdman. [Photo/Associated Press]

Hollywood blockbusters that could have little chance of a mainland release will be shown in the capital at a film festival. Xu Fan reports.

Beijing movie fans will have a chance to see this year's biggest Academy Award winner, Birdman, on the big screen, despite a wider Chinese mainland release of the film looking unlikely.

Beijing International Film Festival committee announced on Monday that it has selected more than 300 films from 1,524 candidates from 103 countries, including recent Oscar winners Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game.

The movies, with the final list to be determined on March 20, will be screened across 23 Beijing cinemas and eight universities from April 16 to 23. Ticket prices will range from 20 yuan ($3.19) to 80 yuan for blockbusters in Imax screens.

Each movie is usually screened four times, though the committee said popular movies may have an extended run, depending on negotiations with producers.

China's top film regulator and major cinemas have not made any indication that Birdman will be released in the mainland, leading some domestic media outlets to speculate that the black comedy may not be screened nationwide.

Zhang Yi, deputy head of the film panorama department of the festival, estimates that this year's Academy Awards' winners have a slim chance of being screened across the mainland, because the Chinese distributors have to consider the limited quota of foreign films annually allowed in cinemas.