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Bond Passes Chinese Film Censor

The latest James Bond release is scheduled to make it to Chinese theaters on January 30th, and this will mark a great feat for the franchise. "Casino Royale" will be the first 007 flick allowed by the strict Chinese film board ever since "Dr. No" aired in China in 1963. 19 films after the last film, China will get their Bond dose in theaters after quite a long wait.

Movie industry experts in China expect the film to be one the highest grossing films of the year, and Sony, who is behind the production, is looking at a major score at the box offices. The action packed movie, which premiered in London a few days ago, has surprisingly been approved by a board that monitors "cultural pollution" from western made movies. The board typically censors films that contain what they deem to be excessive violent, political or sexual scenes.

"Casino Royale" has broken the existing record for debut night box office takings for any film in the 007 franchise, when it earned $2 million on Thursday. The record was previously held by "Die Another Day," starring Pierce Brosnan, which earned $1.4 million on its opening night in November 2002.