BEIJING: The Chinese distributor of martial arts movie Ip Man 3 — starring former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson — has had its license suspended for making up thousands of screenings in a huge box office fraud, regulators said.

The movie, also starring Donnie Yen, is the third installment in a series of Hong Kong films about the life of famed Wing Chun master Yip Man, teacher of Bruce Lee and other martial arts legends.

Chinese film distributors and cinemas often try to inflate box office figures in order to create blockbuster buzz for new releases and attract moviegoers. There may also be financial incentives for such activities.

Chinese film industry figures said Ip Man 3 raked in more than 500 million yuan ($77 million) in its first four days on mainland screens — more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens over the equivalent period.

But the film’s distributor Beijing Max Screen bought 56 million yuan-worth of the tickets itself, and fabricated more than 7,600 screenings that it claimed generated another 32 million yuan, the media regulator’s official newspaper said.

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) ordered the firm to suspend its distribution activities for a month while it “rectified all malpractices,” the China Film Newspaper reported Friday.

“Buying box office figures is an ‘unspoken rule’ of this industry,” media commentator Xu Yuan told AFP.

One common tactic is for distributors to collude with cinemas by buying up empty seats in exchange for guarantees that theaters will screen their product.

“You used to invite the cinema managers out for dinner, but now it’s become much more direct. Buying the tickets yourself is a way of ingratiating yourself with the cinemas,” Xu explained.