Crouching Tiger sequel set for Spring Festival release

Actress Michelle Yeoh pulls out the legendary sword of destiny at the media announcement in Beijing[Photo provided to China Daily]

Domestic movies lined up for the upcoming Spring Festival season have a powerful rival, the sequel of Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny will hit mainland theaters on Feb 8, the first day of China’s Lunar New Year. It was announced at a recent media event in Beijing.

The information available shows that six movies are set to be released that day.

The other five movies are comedy thriller The Man from Macau III, the biopic Xuan Zang, Stephen Chow’s comedy Only You, the fantasy action drama The Monkey King 2 and the animated comedy Mr Nian.

Since Crouching Tiger won four Oscars in 2000, industry sources regard Ang Lee’s martial arts movie as a summit in cinematic history.