Chinese moviegoers are set to be thrilled by a South Korean all-time super-hit movie featuring a famous 16th-century naval victory against Japanese invaders as "Roaring Currents" debuted in China on Friday. 

Starring Choi Min-sik, known for his lead role in the 2003 thriller "Old Boy," the epic film "Roaring Currents" depicts a famous victory by Admiral Yi Sun-sin of the Joseon Dynasty in the Battle of Myeongryang in 1597. 

Admiral Yi saved the Korean dynasty from the brink of collapse during the Japanese invasion, by defeating about 330 Japanese battleships with only a dozen ships under his command.In South Korea, the film replaced "Avatar" as the highest-grossing film of all time, attracting more than 17 million audiences. 

The film had been scheduled to debut at about 3,000 screens in China on Nov. 28, but Chinese authorities asked CJ E&M, the film's distributor, to delay the debut by two weeks to Friday, according to an official at CJ E&M's unit in Beijing. 

The CJ E&M official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said Chinese authorities did not give a reason for the delay, but the Friday debut came a day before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to mark the country's first national memorial day for the Nanjing Massacre. 

China's ruling Communist Party has stepped up campaigns to remind its people of the 1937 mass killings and rapes by Japanese troops in the Chinese city of Nanjing. (Yonhap)