Hong Kong movie star Edison Chen speaks at a press conference for the new film he stars, ‘The Sniper’ on Sunday April 5, 2009 in Singapore.

Chinese-Canadian actor Edison Chen said he is relieved his new movie “The Sniper” has been released after a sex photo scandal prompted its delay.

“I’m actually very pleased that the movie is just being released,” Chen told a news conference in Singapore. “For a long time now, I’ve been wondering what’s going on with this movie.”

Chen was in Singapore to promote the opening of the action thriller, which debuted in Hong Kong last month.

Photos leaked onto the Internet early last year showed Chen performing sex acts with eight female Hong Kong stars, causing a huge uproar in the socially conservative Chinese-speaking community. A Hong Kong computer technician is being tried for allegedly stealing the photos from Chen’s laptop.

The scandal prompted Chen to make a public apology in February 2008 and take a break from the industry.

“The Sniper” finished shooting in 2007 and was originally scheduled to be released in March 2008, but was put on hold after the scandal broke.

Another of Chen’s Chinese-language movies, the romance “Jump,” also was shelved.

The actor had a brief cameo in the Hollywood blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” which was released last July.