Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Legend, the sequel to the Oscar-winning Chinese martial arts film received release dates at a press conference for the film in Beijing on Monday. The film - a co-production between Netflix, The Weinstein, Pegasus Entertainment and the China Film Group Corporation - is expected to premiere on Netflix and Imax theaters in the US and China in February 2016.
Directed by Yuen Woo-ping, the action choreographer for Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Green Legend continues the story of the first film with characters from Wang Dulu's original series of martial arts novels. After the ancient sword The Green Destiny is stolen, female warrior Yu Shu-lien joins hands with her former fiancé - the swordsman Silent Wolf.
Michelle Yeoh, the lead actress from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will reprise her role as Yu in the new film, while Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen will portray Silent Wolf. Chinese American actors Harry Shum Jr and Jason Scott Lee will also join the crew.
According to a press release from the film's producers, they originally approached Ang Lee and then Fearless (2006) director Ronny Yu, before Yuen was finally chosen to take the helm.
"I worked on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon from the beginning to the end. Though it was a good work that will be difficult to surpass, I wanted to give it a try," Yuen was quoted as saying in the press release.
While The Green Legend is Netflix's first Chinese film, this is not the first time US and Chinese studios have come together for a co-production. However, despite the poor reception previous attempts such as Iron Man 3 and Outcast have received the producers of The Green Legend are still optimistic.
"As an industry, we can learn a lot from the experiences of Netflix and Weinstein beyond just filmmaking," Sun Jianjun, president of Pegasus Entertainment, said at the press conference. He added that while many people in the industry have talked about introducing Chinese culture to the world for a long while now, few have succeeded. Despite this "we still want to give it a try."
Of course cultural challenges exist with any international co-production. However, the producers remain positive.
"Perhaps I am being a little bit naïve answering this question. But I think so far the cooperation [between Chinese and US studios] has been fantastic. This is an opportunity to bring this film and other inherently beautiful Chinese films to American audiences. So instead of seeing it as a challenge, I think it's really a kind of lovely intersection of the two cultures," Sarah Bowen, director of content acquisition at Netflix, remarked at the press conference.
Sun added that although the US and China have had their differences when it comes to legal challenges, the production process, and distribution and promotion, the gap between the two countries is getting smaller.
"Chinese films are progressing while Hollywood is showing more respect to China's social status," Sun explained.
The Green Legend is scheduled for release in theaters on the Chinese mainland on February 8, 2016, a week ahead of North America, where the film will see a simultaneous release on Netflix and in IMAX theaters.