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John Woo’s Red Cliff

Based on the articles from AP and Examiner

John Woo is a well known director and his works are known too. Whatever he does is always interesting and the Chinese made film directed by John Woo must be.

Of course if we talk about the "Red Cliff" that also means we talk about Asian movie stars. And you can find a whole "starship" of Asian celebrities: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Wei Zhao, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Shido Nakamura. So that is obvious that one can expect a lot from the film and can surely think of great chances allover the world.

So the director of the "Red Cliff" John Woo is optimistic about his film chances at box office success outside Asia, as Associated Press states. The first part of the film that depicts the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history (also known as the Six Dynasties period (220-280 AD) a time of disunity, instability and warfare) has already hit the top lists in theatres of Asian counties where it was released and also did well in South America and some European countries. A second part of the film follows: already released in some Asian countries, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, soon in Japan.

John Woo (as the articles say) expects the release in USA too, for both of the films: "Red Cliff" I and II.

For that the film must be interpreted in English. "America is the land of opportunity (as the article says) but not if you are trying to distribute a movie with subtitles".

Woo said Wednesday (Jan. 14, 2009 inTaipei, Taiwan) that "his first Chinese-language film in 16 years will prove that an epic about the Middle Kingdom can appeal to a worldwide audience". And John Woo is perceived that he is apt to make the Red Cliff successful in U.S.

Whatever he needs to make it a top hit was also described in the articles (we shall give you those hints too):

1)      Stars – John Woo indeed invited well known celebrities for the film. Takeshi Kaneshiro is known in USA, at least for his roles in "Too Tired to Die" and "The House of The Flying Daggers". Tony Leung is also known after "The Hero" where he was acting with Jet Li, including the fact that Tony is extremely popular in Asia.

2)      Director – well, if the director of the new Asian movie is the creator of such block-busters as: "Face Off," "Broken Arrow", "Paycheck" and the "Mission Impossible II"… can it make U.S. people say “I don’t think I have heard of him”? And that would be a hit for the hint.

3)      Familiar Subjects - Woo's film is set in the ThreeKingdom period - a particularly famous and bloody period of Chinese history. But – is it a famous history part for U.S. people? As to my mind the author of the article believes U.S. people would not be interested in the history of China so…

But to my mind sometimes these miracles happen to the movies. Otherwise how could "Hero" become well known in USA? How could any non-U.S. movie become interesting to the U.S. viewers? People, allover the world, want to watch good films, and not only those, made in their own land. Which is why I believe John Woo should risk that, and should risk show it worldwide. Especially accounting the fact that Woo (who was born in Hong Kong) said he is confident his film will be an international success following the strong Asian box office from the first installment. "This movie will prove that Chinese historical stories can appeal to an international audience," Woo said. "European distributors and critics have praised the film as the grandest epic in recent Chinese history."