For a sneak peek at tomorrow’s box-office darlings, check out the New York Asian Film Festival.

The celebration of Eastern blockbusters starts tonight and runs through June 30 at the Anthology Film Archives and the ImaginAsian theater.

At a time when Hollywood is quick to snap up Asian films for distribution or American remakes, the festival circuit is a great stop for fans who want to get ahead of the curve.

"For the first time, we have a lot of buyers coming to our festival," says Grady Hendrix, co-founder of the annual event. "Studios are sending serious buyers to check out the films and producers are prowling around like sharks."

The presence isn’t unwarranted. Recent imports "Kung Fu Hustle" and "House of Flying Daggers" drew impressive domestic box-office sales. Remakes of Asian films currently in production include "Il Mare," a South Korean romance recast with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, and "The Departed," Martin Scorsese’s take on the Hong Kong thriller "Infernal Affairs" staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg.

This summer’s highly anticipated "Dark Water," a horror film starring Jennifer Connelly, was made in Japan by Hideo Nakata, director of the "Ringu" series, better know to Americans by their copies: "The Ring" and "The Ring Two."

Sarah Michelle Gellar’s horror hit "The Grudge" has a sequel in the works, and is adapted from Japan’s chilling "Ju-on" series (which screened at last year’s New York Asian Film Festival).

Asian horror films rely far more on editing, sound and visuals than they do [on] character dialogue," says Peter Block, president of acquisitions at Lions Gate Films. The climate for snapping up Asian films, he says, is "absolutely more competitive" than it ever was before.

The studio’s acquisition "Three ... Extremes" - shorts by cult favorites Takashi Miike, Fruit Chan and Park Chan-wook - screens at 8:45 p.m. next Friday at the ImaginAsian.

This year’s fest isn’t all scare-me’s. It-girl Ziyi Zhang, who made the cover of a recent Newsweek, stars in the Japanese musical "Princess Raccoon," showing Sunday and on June 25. (See www.subwaycinema.com for a schedule.)

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria also is showing movies depicting urban life in Asia. "Asian City Films" runs through July 3 (www.ammi.org).

Those interested in the work of Asian-Americans have the Asian American International Film Festival at theaters around Manhattan July 15-31 (www.asiancinevision.org).

"Lack of originality in Hollywood has brought the audience to Asian films," says Rohi Mirza Pandya, director of theater operations at ImaginAsian, which wrapped the New York Filipino Film Festival last night.

"Hollywood is looking to Asian films because they have great product."