Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon May Roar on Broadway

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon may soon be headed for Broadway, according to Variety.

Producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have acquired the rights for Chinese author Wang Du Lu's Crane -- Iron Pentalogy. The fourth book in the series of five served as the inspiration 2000 Ang Lee-directed film, which sent its combative characters hurtling in the air amidst stalks of bamboo. The Weinsteins are interested in a theatrical adaptation, which according to Harvey, would be "combination spectacle and musical with a cohesive (storyline)...Cirque du Soleil with a pronounced narrative, featuring the greatest martial artists."

The Weinsteins, who recently departed from Miramax to form the new production company Weinstein Co., are also developing the Crane -- Iron books as a film series of three prequels and a sequel (which they hope to also be directed by recent Oscar-winner Lee). The books--Crane Frightens KunLun, Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin, Sword Spirit, Pearl Light, Tiger and Iron Knight, Silver Vase--follow three generations of an adventure-seeking family during the Qing Dynasty. Tiger will not be remade. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon grossed $128 million domestically in 2001 to become one of the most financially successful foreign films of all time; it starred Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang, among others.

"...There is a whole world of material in all of these books that can be explored in a series of great films, much like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Theater audiences should have high expectations for the spectacle that this extraordinary material can bring to the stage, and I think this is an opportunity to create something revolutionary," stated Harvey Weinstein.

The Weinsteins have served on the producing teams for numerous Broadway shows, including The Producers, The Color Purple, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. According to the Variety article, they are also developing Roger Water's The Wall into a musical and "own legit rights to previous Miramax films Finding Neverland and Chocolat."