BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- "The Da Vinci Code," the film adapted from Dan Brown's best-selling novel, made its world debut in Beijing on Wednesday evening.

    About four-and-a-half hours before it was screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the big-budget Hollywood thriller impressed the Chinese audience with performances from Oscar-winning Tom Hanks and France's Audrey Tautou.

    The U.S. director Ron Howard's 125-million-dollar film tells ofJesus marrying Mary Magdalene and having a child whose descendants are still alive today.

    With a shining cast and controversial plot, the movie is expected to be a massive hit both because of the novel's worldwidesales record of over 40 million copies and protests from religiouscircles.

    Xu Bing, a spokesman with the China Film Group Corporation, themovie's China's distributor, estimated that the movie is likely toreap over 60 million yuan (7.5 million U.S. dollars).

    The company has decided to show the movie simultaneously in bigcities across the country with over 380 copies in over 30 cinema lines, he told Xinhua at the premiere.

    Despite protests from christians in several countries and regions in the world, Li Chow, General Manager of the Columbia Triastar Film Distributors International China, said no part of the movie has been cut for its release in China.

    "The Da Vinci Code" has sparked controversy over its "sacrilegious" story and has met opposition from many countries worldwide. Some religious groups in India have called on people toprotest against the movie. Singapore's national film administration listed the film into grade NC-16, saying the film is not suitable for children without discretion.

    In Britain, the film was forced to make changes in its music and sound effects so that "children aged under 12 could watch the film accompanied by their parents". Enditem