26 Jan – 13 years ago, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" opened the eyes of the international moviegoers to the wuxia genre and now it has been confirmed that The Weinstein Company will be following up with by director Ang Lee's Oscar-winning film with a new instalment, which will begin shooting in May, according to Coming Soon.net. Although there is no proper title for the film yet, the sequel of the martial arts fantasy story is based on the fifth book, "Silver Vase, Iron Knight" in Wang Du Lu's Crane-Iron series. It is reported that John Fusco, who penned the script for "Hidalgo" and Oscar nominee "Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron", will write for the film, with director Ronny Yu in discussions to helm. Meanwhile, Ang Lee will not be involved in the sequel. "This was an opportunity to explore a lifelong passion I've had for wuxia, and if there wasn't continuing source material, I would never have gotten involved," said Fusco. He added, "It has a Knights Errant quality. There is an alternate universe in the books, a martial forest that exists alongside the real world, full of wandering sword fighters, medicine men, defrocked priests, poets, sorcerers and Shaolin renegades. It's so vast and rich, and I found characters from the second and third books in the series to create a most interesting stew while being as true to the source material as I could be."
To date, there is no information on whether any of the original cast, such as Michelle Yeoh, would be reprising their roles in the second film. However, legendary Hong Kong martial arts instructor Yuen Woo Ping, who is recognized for his wirework in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", is expected to join in. Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" turned out to be a surprise international sensation during the last decade, gaining USD 213.5 million worldwide on a budget of just USD 17 million. It has won over 40 movie awards including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.