The Weinstein Co. has acquired distribution rights to martial arts epic “Dragon” (“Wu Xia”) for the world outside of Asia and French speaking Europe.
The film will have its world premiere Saturday as part of the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival. TWC, which made the announcement Tuesday, said it expects to release “Dragon” in the United States later this year.
Director by Peter Ho-Sun Chan (“The Warlords”), “Dragons” stars Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tang Wei and Jimmy Wang Yu. Yen is also the film’s action choreographer.
Yen portrays a papermaker in the late Qing Dynasty, leading a simple life with his wife and their two sons. Into their remote village comes a detective investigating the deaths of two bandits during a robbery.
TWC has also acquired first option to remake rights for the film. The announcement was made by TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein and VP of Acquisitions Dan Guando.
“During the production, Donnie was telling me that ‘Wu Xia’ becomes more and more like a Weinstein movie,” Chan said. “It’s no coincidence that Harvey likes the film.”
Weinstein said, “Peter Chan is a true artist and with ‘Wu Xia’ he has created a dream project, combining two of my favorite genres: film noir and martial arts.”
TF1 is already set to distribute the film in France.
