How 'bout that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon prequel ?

[Pas]

Anyone has info on that ?

Thanks Mac !

[modage]

sorry for the slight delay, here's the news!

Crouching Tiger Prequels Coming?
Source: Variety March 10, 2006

Bob and Harvey Weinstein are planning to bring a legit version of martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the stage, and are also developing the five books that encompass "Tiger" as a film franchise of three prequels and a sequel, reports Variety.

They have acquired worldwide rights to develop and produce a stage adaptation of Chinese author Wang Du Lu's "Crane -- Iron Pentalogy," a series of novels that includes "Tiger" as its fourth installment.

"Tiger" would serve as the first planned production to be culled from the book series. Harvey Weinstein said that he envisions the project as a "combination spectacle and musical with a cohesive (storyline)."

He added that the stage version would be akin to "Cirque du Soleil with a pronounced narrative, featuring the greatest martial artists."

The original "Crane -- Iron" books comprise five martial arts novels that follow the adventures of three generations of related protagonists during the Qing dynasty. Titles include "Crane Frightens KunLun," "Precious Sword," "Golden Hairpin," "Sword Spirit, Pearl Light," "Tiger" and "Iron Knight, Silver Vase."

As for the films, the projects would be Chinese language, and Weinstein said he would like to approach original "Tiger" helmer Ang Lee and producer Bill Kong about coming on board. "Tiger" would not be remade as part of the series, and the Weinsteins have not chosen which book would serve as the basis for the first project.

Helmer Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger" film grossed $128 million domestically in 2001. The film was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

[Pubrick]

this should be a sequel that time forgot until any real news comes along.

[pete]

but Ang already changed much of crouching tiger hidden dragon, I dunno how he could ever make a sequel to that with him killing off all the characters in this one already.  the book had very different villains and main character and it meandered a lot more than the movie.  I also thought the stories weren't all that remarkable--it was mostly the production value (ie. doing those wired chases in long beautiful takes) that really punched up the movie, otherwise, there are a ton of movies out there with better attitude and mood and fights.  but, like most genre movies, most martial arts films had certain flaws that make them hard to reach the mainstream (mostly low production values eg. cheaper sound/ music/ film stocks/ special effects) and Crouching Tiger had a wider appeal because of how the money was spent.  weinstein's claim about having the greatest martial artists on a stage show was also very ignorant--first of all what does he know about the greatest martial artists, and secondly, what do great martial artists have to do with cirque de solei?
please let this project fall through.

[MacGuffin]

Film titans battle over sequel to 'Crouching Tiger'
Columbia and the Weinstein Co. are duking it out in a Canadian court over who has the rights for a follow-up.
Source: Los Angeles Times

His name is Hong Wang, a Chinese-born agricultural research scientist who works in a small town in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

He's also the unlikely key figure in a high-stakes Hollywood drama that is taking place far from the glitz and glamour of Tinseltown.

Columbia Pictures and the Weinstein Co. are battling in court to see which will win the potentially lucrative follow-up to Ang Lee's epic martial-arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," one of the most successful foreign movies of all time.

The film, which Sony Pictures Classics released in 2000 in North America, grossed $213.5 million worldwide, took in $20 million in home video rentals and received 10 Academy Award nominations, capturing four Oscars, including one for best foreign film.

Wang is the son of Chinese author Wang Du Lu, who wrote the novel upon which the film was based.

It is the son's negotiations with the two powerhouse movie companies that are at the heart of the case.

When the author died in 1977, he left behind close to 40 books, including a number of martial-arts novels. Among these are five novels collectively known as "The Crane-Iron Pentology," of which "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is the fourth. The remaining books are "Flying Stork, Shaking Kunlun," "Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin," "Legendary Sword, Brilliant Pearls" and "Iron Rider, Silver Vase."

In a strange twist, the litigation seeks to determine whether Wang granted both Columbia and the Weinstein Co. the film rights to the remaining books in the series: Columbia claims it has a binding oral agreement with Wang; the Weinsteins say they have one in writing.

Son Hong Wang and his sister, Qin Wang, a retired math professor who lives in Beijing, control the audiovisual rights to the books. Their mother, who also lives in China, is in her 90s.

Despite the movie's blockbuster success, Hong Wang said in a court affidavit that his family received only $30,000 in direct compensation for selling the rights to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." As a result, he said, the family decided to "take greater care" when negotiating the rights to the other novels.

"Since the release of 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' my mother, my sister and I have been anxious for more movies to be made based on the four books before the copyright in my father's works expires," Wang added in his affidavit, which is filed in a Canadian court in Regina, Saskatchewan.

He added: "It was always understood — and my sister and I always proceeded on that basis — that neither of us would sign any agreements respecting the works without the approval of the other on the final terms of such agreements."

But both movie companies contend they have enforceable contracts to purchase the rights to the four books.

Columbia, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, filed suit against Wang and the Weinstein Co. in Regina last year, seeking $200 million in damages.

The studio claimed it had an oral agreement with Wang. But Wang insists he made no such agreement with the Culver City-based studio.

"I emphatically deny that any binding agreement was ever entered into between me and Columbia/Sony," Wang stated in his affidavit.

Wang's attorney, Robert W. Leurer of Regina, said he was not at liberty to discuss the case and declined a request for his client to be interviewed for this report.

But Robert Geary, senior executive vice president of business affairs at Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, stated in a sworn affidavit: "There is no doubt in my mind that both Dr. Wang and I had an agreement on all of the fundamental terms that would be typically placed into an agreement of this kind."

Columbia maintains that it had negotiated with Wang through e-mails and phone calls.

The studio contends the remaining terms of the deal were hammered out in a telephone call between Geary and Wang on Sept. 28, 2005, and that Geary even made notes to himself that said the deal was "closed."

Wang said that he never reached a binding agreement with Columbia and, anyway, that he wouldn't have done so without the consent of his sister.

On the other side, Timothy Schmidt, who was senior vice president of business affairs for the Weinstein Co. last May when the company submitted his sworn affidavit in court, stated: "The claim by Columbia Pictures both slanders and clouds the Weinstein Co.'s interest in the Wang rights and interferes with the Weinstein Co.'s agreements and opportunities to exploit the rights."

He added that the "threatened harm to the Weinstein Co. cannot be fully calculated in dollars."

The Weinsteins, meanwhile, claim their company entered an agreement with Wang on Dec. 12, 2005, giving the film company the option to acquire the motion picture, television, publishing and other rights in the books.

The four remaining books would be key film properties for either company.

The Weinsteins, for instance, have disclosed that they are exploring turning the martial arts books into a major movie franchise as well as a live stage production.

The Weinstein Co. wanted the case conducted in a U.S. court, where copyright law reportedly gives more weight to a written agreement.

In July, a Canadian judge ruled that the case could proceed in Saskatchewan, noting that a "juridical advantage" to Columbia may exist since "it seems unlikely that Dr. Wang entered into negotiations with the Weinstein Co. without disclosing his prior arrangements with Columbia Pictures."

In January, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upheld that ruling.

"The agreement we entered into was reached first, is well documented, and is valid and binding," Jim Kennedy, senior vice president for corporate communications for Sony Pictures Entertainment, said in a statement issued by the studio. "We have great confidence in our position and remain very optimistic about the outcome."

Weinstein says it is optimistic as well.

"The Weinstein Co. is confident that it would prevail and is looking forward to resolving the merits at trial," said David Bois, outside counsel to the company.

Wang lives and works in Swift Current, about a 2 1/2 -hour drive from Regina. He arrived there in 1990 to complete his postdoctoral studies and works at an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada station, which focuses on soil research to assist in crop development.

As the Regina Leader-Post newspaper noted last year in a story about the case, Swift Current is a city of about 15,000 "in an area better known for its cattle and oil wells than tigers and dragons."

Barb Pacholik, a reporter who has covered the case for the Regina Leader-Post, said Saskatchewan is an unlikely place for Hollywood to stage such a big legal battle, but she added that it isn't the first time Hollywood has come calling in the province.

"We do have a growing sort of movie industry starting to come into its own. Charlize Theron was up here filming something last fall ... ," she said, "but certainly, nothing like this."

[MacGuffin]

Weinstein Co Readying 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' Sequel For May Start
BY MIKE FLEMING JR | Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: The Weinstein Company has set a May production start in Asia on a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There is a script by John Fusco, and TWC is in talks with veteran Chinese director Ronny Yu. Harvey Weinstein is producing.

The new film is derived from the same source material as the Ang Lee-directed 2000 film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and three other Academy Awards. Lee isn't involved in this one, which is based on Silver Vase, Iron Knight. That is the fifth book in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy by Wang Du Lu. Crouching Tiger was the fourth book in the series. Fusco, whose credits include Spirit, Hidalgo and The Forbidden Kingdom, is an avid follower of Wu Sia, the centuries-old genre of Chinese fiction that this series is part of.

"This was an opportunity to explore a lifelong passion I've had for Wu Sia, and if there wasn't continuing source material, I would never have gotten involved," Fusco told me.

The sequel continues to revolve around Yu Shu Lien, the character played in the original by Michelle Yeoh. It's not immediately clear yet which actors will reprise, but some likely will. "This introduces a new generation of star-crossed lovers, and a new series of antagonists in a battle of good and evil. It has a Knights Errant quality. There is an alternate universe in the books, a martial forest that exists alongside the real world, full of wandering sword fighters, medicine men, defrocked priests, poets, sorcerers and Shaolin renegades. It's so vast and rich, and I found characters from the second and third books in the series to create a most interesting stew while being as true to the source material as I could be."

TWC and Sony had battled several years ago over the rights to the books left behind by the author, who died in 1977. Reports quoted his son, Hong Wang, saying his family made very little money from the original film, and that they went out to make another deal. TWC feels it walked away with those theatrical rights and is going ahead with its film, which has a budget north of $20 million.

Casting will get underway after the director signs, and for his part Fusco expects a return from Wo Ping Yuen, the legendary fight choreographer responsible from the high wire action work in the original. They worked together on Forbidden Kingdom (pictured). Fusco separately scripted Marco Polo for Electus/Weinstein Co and Starz, as well as the feature Highwaymen, which has John Lee Hancock attached to direct a retelling of the Bonnie & Clyde story from the vantage point of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, who was called out of retirement to head the manhunt. Liam Neeson is eyeing that role. He also adapted the rise of Elvis Presley pic Last Train To Memphis for Fox 2000 and Steve Bing, based on the Peter Guralnick novel. Fusco's repped by UTA.

[MacGuffin]

Ziyi Zhang in talks for 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' sequel — EXCLUSIVE
By Laura Hertzfeld; EW

Chinese actress Ziyi Zhang is in talks to reprise her role as badass warrior apprentice Jen Yu in the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which will begin shooting in March 2014.

A source close to the film says Zhang's part would be shot as flashbacks to explain what happened to her character. As previously announced by The Weinstein Company, Michelle Yeoh will return as Yu Shu Lien and Donnie Yen will star as Silent Wolf in the sequel, titled Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon — The Green Destiny. Yuen Wo Ping will direct; Ang Lee directed the original, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000. John Fusco is writing the screenplay, based on Iron Knight, Silver Vase by Wang Du Lu, book 5 in the Crane-Iron Pentalogy series on which the original film is based.

Ping and Zhang also recently teamed up for Wong Kar-wai's upcoming film The Grandmaster, opening August 23, which Ping choreographed.