MUMBAI: Walt Disney Co.‘s Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides will release in China on 20 May, day-and-date with the film’s US and most of the world release including 3D and IMAX-3D,it is understood.

The film will be one of the 20 imported titles allowed to recoup between 13-17 percent of its box-office gross in China every year, where the state-run China Film Group and Huaxia Film Distribution control Hollywood imports and distribution.

Pirates 4 brings back Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and revives the franchise’s original bad guy, Geoffrey Rush. It also adds Penelope Cruz as a beautiful trickster who tangles romantically with Captain Jack and Ian McShane as a fearsome new villain.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World‘s End released in China in June 2007, in the pre-3D era here and without the benefit of a lead-in from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man‘s Chest, which was banned for its supernatural themes. Nonetheless, Pirates 3 grossed over 120 million yuan (about $18.3 million).