The Weinstein Company is suing Columbia Pictures, claiming that they, not Columbia, have the film rights to the five-book series by Wang Du Lee which includes “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
Hope this one gets resolved quickly. I’d love to see the other books made into movies.
Wait, so you’re telling me that Crouching Tiger was not only a book, but that there are 4 more of them? Why do I not know this?! Must get!
Yup. It’s a pentology known as the Crane/Iron Pentology:
Book 1: Crane Frightens Kunlun
Book 2: Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin
Book 3: Sword’s Force, Pearl’s Shine
Book 4: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Book 5: Iron Knight, Silver Vase.
As far as I know, they’re still only available in Chinese….but the comic books based on the series are available in English.
Though the finale of the comic not only seriously departs from the novels but reality in general (The writer converted to Christianity and used the book as a forum to explain how kung fu is a tool of Satan. I wish I were kidding about this.)
[from Monkeypeaches]:
“When Ang Lee made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon a few years ago, he did some serious trimming and overhaul of the story of the original same name novel, which [as you said] is part 4 of the pentalogy. The novel itself was not a major factor contributed to the success of the movie, and it would also mean adapting the rest of the series might not be as profitable as what the Weinstein brothers hoped for.
Precious Sword, Gold Hairpin, part 2 of the pentalogy and Sword Spirt, Pearl, part 3 of the pentalogy, are about the young Li Mu Bai (played by Chow Yun-Fat) and Yu Shu Lien (played by Michelle Yeoh); Crane Frightens Kun Lun, part 1 of the pentalogy is about Jiang Xiaohe, master of Li Mu Bai; and Iron Rider, Silver Vase is about Han Tiefang, the son of Jen (Zhang Ziyi) and Lo (Chang Chen). It would be quite difficult to bring back the original cast and crew, including Ang Lee, and without the original cast and crew, any sequel or prequel would hardly make a sale.”