Christopher Nolan's Inception will be released in China, the country's film importer said yesterday, giving a lucrative foreign market to a sci-fi thriller that has already become a global sensation.

China Film Group will give the Warner Bros production one of its coveted 20 annual slots for revenue-sharing imports, executive Yuan Wenqiang said.

He said the 148-minute film had been cleared by Chinese censors.

China splits revenues with foreign studios on 20 of their movies every year - a rule that effectively limits the country to 20 foreign blockbusters a year. It buys the rights to other lesser-known foreign films at flat rates.

Yuan said he did not know the release date. The film group's distribution department could not be reached for comment, and Warner Bros did not respond to an e-mail asking for comment.

Chinese media reports gave conflicting release dates. The news website Sina.com said September 21 last week but another website, Sohu.com, said the date had been advanced to September 2.

Inception, which is also being released in Imax format, will face off against a slew of Chinese-language blockbusters in September.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, and Marion Cotillard, the innovative Inception follows a team of brain-tapping experts, hired by a Japanese businessman to influence the thinking of the heir to an energy conglomerate.