High expectations for 'Crouching Tiger' sequel

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, starring Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen and Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, will hit Chinese mainland theaters in the 3-D format on Feb 19. [Photo provided to China Daily]

While a franchise's market potential typically hinges on the same stars appearing in new films, the sequel has only Chinese-Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh reprising her role as Yu.

However, kung fu superstar Donnie Yen, playing the fiance, adds weight to the cast.

But die-hard fans could be disappointed to see that Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen are absent in the new film.

But for Yuen, the big challenge revolves more around making the West understand Asian sensitivities and philosophy in a typical Chinese jianghu, or the martial world.

Despite Lee's 2000 movie gaining widespread popularity in the West, a series of ambitious martial arts tentpoles, such as Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002) and Chen Kaige's The Promise (2005), failed to match Lee's success.

Some critics say that one of the main reasons for the poor response to those films is that Western audiences could not understand the intricacies of the Chinese martial arts world.

So, the domestic industry now has a lot of hope pinned on Yuen's movie.

But given the slump seen in wuxia movies in the recent years, can the new Crouching Tiger film revive the flagging fortunes of the genre that helped introduce Chinese cinema to the world?

The start was not so promising.