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TOKYO -- Advance ticket sales of the John Woo epic "Red Cliff Part I" have set a record for an Asian pic in Japan.

�By Thursday, two days before the pic's bow, distribs Avex Entertainment and Toho-Toho had recorded 13,500 advance ticket sales, compared with 11,410 for the previous record holder, the Zhang Yimou epic "Hero."

The pic, which bows on Nov. 1 on 551 screens, the most of any Asian pic in Japan, is aiming to surpass not only "Hero's" B.O. of $41 million, but also the $58 million take of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the year's highest foreign B.O. earner.

The pic opened this year's Tokyo Film Festival on Oct. 18. Also, on Thursday helmer Woo attended an opening event for 2,000 guests at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills Arena, attended by numerous Japanese celebs.