Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A wuxia film that became a surprise international success.
The wuxia film stars Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen. Set in 18th-century Imperial China, the plot follows two master warriors, Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien, who are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen by the mysterious thief Jen Yu.
- director
- Ang Lee
- budget
- US$17 million
- language
- Standard Chinese
- genre
- wuxia martial arts film
- academy_award_nominations
- 10
Lore & Background
The film was produced by Edko Films Ltd (Hong Kong) and Zoom Hunt International Production Co Ltd (Taiwan), in collaboration with China Film Co-productions Corporation and Asian Union Film & Entertainment for Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia in association with Good Machine International. It grossed US$128 million in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing foreign produced film in American history. The film was the first non-English language film to break the $100 million mark in the United States.
Reader's Guide
The film also won four BAFTAs and two Golden Globe Awards, each of them for Best Foreign Film. For retrospective years, Crouching Tiger is often cited as one of the finest wuxia films ever made and has been widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the 21st century.
Did You Know?
- It was the first non-English language film to break the $100 million mark in the United States.
- The film received 10 Academy Award nominations, the most ever for a non-English-language film at the time.
- The title is a literal translation of the Chinese idiom '臥虎藏龍', which describes a place full of unnoticed masters.
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