Crane-Iron Pentalogy Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Lawsuit
Filed under: Action », Drama », Foreign Language », Romance », Deals », Celebrities and Controversy », The Weinstein Co. », Newsstand », Weinstein Brothers », Remakes and Sequels », Cinematical Indie »
Remember last month, when the Weinstein
Brothers were bragging all over
town about their acquisition of the rights to the Crane-Iron Pentalogy, the series of books by Wang Du Lee
from which Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was born? And how
it would give them "an opportunity to do something revolutionary" whatever that means? Well, it turns out the
people at Columbia think the revolution is theirs, and the two sides are headed to
court to fight it out, hopefully in a battle that features abundant wire-work.According to Columbia representatives, the studio acquired the rights to four books in the Penalogy (presumably all but Crouching Tiger) last year though an oral agreement with one Dr. Hong Wang, who, at least sometimes, is "authorized to represent [Lee's heirs] in such deals." The Weinsteins, meanwhile, claim that they, too, got the rights through Dr. Wang, but in December of last year, via a written agreement. Uh oh. Columbia believes that, since their agreement was reached first, it invalidates the subsequent contract signed by Wang and Weinstein reps. The plot thickens, however, because (according to lawyers for the Weinsteins) Lee's heirs deny any knowledge of the Columbia agreement. And even if it DOES exists, say those lawyers, it "would be unenforceable under the U.S. Copyright Act" for reasons that are unstated and well beyond me.
We'll keep any eye on the case and let you know if anything interesting happens; either way, it's going to be a while before we seen any Crouching Dragon sequels.
Crouching Tiger, Spending Weinsteins
Filed under: Action », Drama », Deals », The Weinstein Co. », Newsstand », Weinstein Brothers », Remakes and Sequels »
Looking for a The Lord of the Rings of their very own, the Weinstein brothers
have acquired the rights to a series of five martial arts novels by Wang Du Lu. Collectively known as the
Crane-Iron Pentalogy, the books gained exposure to a world-wide audience (though that audience probably didn't
know it at the time) when the fourth in the series was used as the source for Ang
Lee's wildly successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The planned movies - the most exciting of which will inevitably be Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin - will
function as prequels and a sequel to Lee's film. In addition to crowing about how these upcoming marital arts films are "an opportunity to do something revolutionary" (What that means is anyone's guess - cast Asian actors in Hollywood? Make a movie with the word "hairpin" in the title?), the Weinsteins also announced tentative plans to create a stage version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yikes. Why do I immediately think of Andrew Lloyd Webber and a completely inappropriate emphasis on visual effects?
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