‘Crouching Tiger’ Sequel in 3D Format, Will have Mandarin & English Version at Premiere on Feb. 19

All eyes in China are on “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny” for the anticipated premiere on Feb. 19 of The sequel of the hit movie which broke box office records in North America and harvested a lot of awards in 2000 would be in Mandarin and English languages to have more audience reach.

The China opening of the film in two languages would be simultaneous with its showing in some North America cinemas and Netflix, the video streaming site, reported China Daily.

Despite the growing anticipation for the film and expectations that it would equal, if not surpass the, box-office records set by the original film, sequel director Yuen Woo-Ping said he is not worried about being compared to Ang Lee, director of the original award-winning movie.

“No, I’ve never felt stressed. When you think too much you are unable to make a good film,” Yuen – who is based in Hong Kong – told China Daily.

Expectation too are heavy on Michelle Yeoh, a Chinese-Malaysian actress, who is the only cast of the original film back for the sequel in the starring role. Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen are not part of the sequel, but Donnie Yen, a kung fu superstar, joins the movie as Yeoh’s fiancé.

Other Chinese martial arts movies tried to follow in the “Crouching Tiger’s” success in the western film market, but Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” in 2002 and Chen Kaige’s “The Promise” in 2005 failed.

In Hypable’s review of the novel "Sword of Destiny" where the “Crouching Tiger” sequel is based, it said “the end of Sword of Destiny will leave fans – both new and old – satisfied and yet always wanting more.”