Crouching Tiger prequel to be shot in New Zealand this year

WELLINGTON: A prequel to the Oscar-winning Chinese martial arts epic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” will be shot in New Zealand this year, Film Auckland said yesterday.

The original movie, released in 2000, broke new ground in introducing Western audiences to Chinese cinema and Film. Auckland’s deputy chairman Alex Lee said securing the follow-up was a major coup for New Zealand.

“Over the last 18 months it’s been very quiet and it’s nice we’re fi nally getting traction,” he told Radio New Zealand. “It’s a production that will require a vast number of resources, facilities, technicians and crew.”

New Zealand is no stranger to big-budget movie shoots, providing stunning backdrops for both the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies.

But Lee said subsidy changes allowing major productions to claim back up to 25 per cent of their budget as rebates were a decisive factor in Auckland winning the “Crouching Tiger” prequel.

“It’s quite clear that until the decision to increase the incentives for international fi lms to come to New Zealand we were just not competitive,” he said.

“Crouching Tiger” made US$ 213.5 million globally, according to industry website Box Office Mojo, including US$ 128 million in the United States – unprecedented at the time for a foreign language movie.

It also won four Oscars in 2001, including best foreign fi lm, and launched the Hollywood career of director Ang Lee, who went on to win two best director Academy Awards for “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi”.

Film industry bible Variety reported that Michelle Yeoh will reprise her role as a warrior in the prequel, to be titled “The Green Destiny”.

It said Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s The Weinstein Company coproducing the fi lm with New Zealand’s Iron Knight Productions. — AFP

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