CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON 2 Comes to China

Dec 06, 2025 CFM Co-production, Daily, Distribution, Trends 0

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With the huge success of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON 15 years ago, its sequel has drawn attention due to is provocative distribution annoucement. Schuyler Moore share with THE CHINESE FILM MARKET in this following article about a possible new dierection of Chinese-foreign co-productions.

I recently had the honor of representing Beijing Pegasus & Taihe Ubiquitous Culture Media Co. Ltd. and China Film Group in connection with their co-production with The Weinstein Company of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON 2 This film serves as an interesting model of the future of the film industry for a number of reasons discussed in this article.

The requirements to qualify for a Chinese co-production generally include some positive element of Chinese culture, and since the film met this requirement, it qualified as an official Chinese co-production based on its Chinese theme, even though most of the film was shot outside of China. The fact that the film has strong and positive Chinese elements was critical to the Chinese co-producers, since qualification as a co-production has a number of benefits, including exemption from the quota limits on imported films and a higher share of box office revenues. These facts permitted the Chinese co-producers to invest more in the film, since it had positive elements of Chinese culture, than they otherwise would have.

While the original film was shot in Chinese, the new film will be shot in English. This change is part of a wider trend of Chinese co-productions being shot in English in order to play to a worldwide audience. If China wants to spread its cultural influence throughout the world, it will at least initially have to do so with films shot in English, since those films have a much wider acceptance outside of China.

The film was produced with the intention of being popular worldwide, and particularly in China. Almost all films produced now take into consideration how the film will play in China, since China is such a large and growing market. It is no coincidence that films like “2012” and “The Martian” have plot elements that portray China in a favorable light.

Another interesting aspect of this film is that Netflix bought out all worldwide rights to the film in order to release the film on subscription VOD (SVOD) “day-and-date” (which means on the same day) with the theatrical release of the film on IMAX around the world, except in China, because Netflix is not yet in China and the Chinese co-producers insisted on a holdback. While Netflix does not pay any royalties based on the success of the film, the Netflix transaction permitted The Weinstein Company to make a profit on the film even before it was produced. Many other films are now being produced under this model, including a series of films starring Adam Sandler.

So CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON 2 represents a bold step forward for the film industry and serves as a model for the future.

 

Schuyler Moore is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and is the author of a book on the film industry called THE BIZ.

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