DRAGON (WU XIA) purchased by Weinstein Company at Cannes

The Weinstein Company has purchased distribution rights to Dragon (Wu Xia), directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan. The Chinese martial arts noir film is a 2011 Cannes Official Selection, and premieres on May 14. TWC acquired most world distribution rights outside of Asia and French-speaking Europe, and optioned the remake rights to the film.

Dragon takes place during the late Qing Dynasty, "Liu (Donnie Yen) is a papermaker, leading a simple life with his wife Ayu (Tang Wei) and their two sons. Into their remote village comes Detective Xu (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who is investigating the deaths of two bandits during a robbery. Xu quickly realizes that the incident in question was no ordinary botched robbery -- and his dogged inquiry threatens to dredge up the dark secrets of Liu’s buried past, threatening not only Liu and his family but the entire village."

Here is what Harvey Weinstein had to say about the purchase:

“Peter Chan is a true artist and with WU XIA he has created a dream project, combining two of my favorite genres: film noir and martial arts. Peter has been a friend for more than 10 years I could not be happier to be working with him on this film.”

Expect a lot more films being picked up during Cannes. I love Donnie Yen in Ip Man and Ip Man 2, so I am down for any film that he's in. If you have not seen a film with him in it, I highly recommend you do.

Check out the trailer for the film here. What are your thoughts on this news?