Interesting news came this week that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend won't just be notable for reuniting some top-name talent (including Impact's founding-father Bey Logan as a producer) but also because it appears to be at the forefront of a tidal change in the way that film and entertainment my be distributed to the masses.
Conventionally, films arrive in cinemas for several weeks (increasingly day-for-day across the globe, largely to prevent piracy) and then after a suitable pause head to DVD and possibly appearing on satellite broadcast networks depending on the deals done. However a few films are going straight to VOD (Video on Demand) to reach their audience via the internet or working out parallel releases to hit all forms of distribution simultaneously.
The plan for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon's sequel is to release it simultaneously through Netflix (already making an impact by moving from its library of existing product to wholly new commissioned material such as House of Cards) and a raft of global IMAX screens. In effect, this is one of the first and most high-profile releases to bypass conventional cinemas screens entirely.
It is bound to be a controversial decision and there has been some discontent from various cinema chains about the way it will impact them - both in the short and long term, especially if this multimedia world starts leaning to this kind of distribution pattern and cutting away the chains a serious slice of their revenue. The 'Regal' movie-theatre chain in the US has brusquely announced it will not show the film on any of its IMAX screens and the organisation's Russ Nunley said in a statement that they: "...will not participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to three inches wide on a smart phone. We believe the choice for truly enjoying a magnificent movie is clear.”
The original Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was one of the most significant world-cinema releases of the early 21st century. It's release in multiple territories in 2000 proved that there was a massive cinema-going global audience for movies that had once seemed like a niche market confined to DVD shelves and festival circuits. The film did well in the US and overseas on a financial basis and gave a mainstream platform to the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat and, of course, director Ang Lee. The sequel sees Michelle Yeoh return, alongside Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Harry Shum Jnr., Eugenia Yuan and Juju Chan and its planned release in 2015 should generate a lot of interest whatever the platform.
But in an age where you CAN get watch entertainment on a variety of different-sized screens and locations, will film-makers maximise their distribution pattern... or, as in this case, merely select their favoured options?
UPDATE 1st October: US cinema-chain AMC has also announced it will also not be showing the film on its IMAX screens under the current plans.
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