3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, the world's first major 3D pornograhic movie, is generating a lot of excitement in China, where it opens in Hong Kong and Taiwan this week, and there are already reports of tour groups planning trips from mainland China, where the film is banned.

Taiwanese newspapers report that at least five tour groups from mainland China have already made reservations to see the £2m Cantonese-language film during the May Day holiday.

In a collaboration with his father, Stephen Shiu Senior, Shiu produced the original 1991 erotic film Sex and Zen – which made £1.6m at the box office and is still a soft-core legend in Hong Kong lore. That film has kicked off an entirely new series of Category III, or X-rated, movies.

“It remains to be seen if viewers' 3D glasses steam up during Sex and Zen's racier moments, but the porn industry is desperate to make a comeback after being sidelined by free product on the internet, and 3D could be box-office Viagra for the genre,” writes The Independent’s China correspondent Clifford Coonan.

The genre could be in for a boom. The Italian director Tinto Brass is also planning a 3D version of his classic 1979 erotic film Caligula, and there have been one or two low-budget 3D porn movies already released, including one called This Ain't Avatar XX.

When it comes to the first porn title on 3D Blu-ray disc, it will be produced by Japanese adult-movie publisher S1 No.1Style, starring Mika Kayama and Yuma Asami. “Adult videos will likely be an incentive for consumers to buy a 3D TV,” said analyst Yuji Fujimori at Barclays Capital in Tokyo. “It’s worth paying attention to the move because it’s lack of content that’s hindering expansion.”

Story filed 10.04.11