With its 31 Emmy nominations and seven wins earlier this year, Netflix proved it was a major player in the television industry. After yesterday’s announcement that the company is creating its first original movie, a sequel to 2000’s Oscar-winning “Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon,” it appears Netflix is aiming to show the world that, like Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix,” it knows Kung fu.
The film, titled “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend,” will be a joint effort between Netflix and The Weinstein Company, and is scheduled to be available for streaming on August 28, 2015, the same day it will hit IMAX screens worldwide.
In terms of pedigree, Netflix could not have done better for a first film project. Internationally renowned actress Michelle Yeoh will be reprising her role from the first “Crouching Tiger,” and The Weinstein Company might as well 3-D print its own Oscar statuettes at this point given its past success marketing films to Academy voters. But a single success story doesn’t mean Netflix has a legitimate place among Hollywood studios. The company found success with “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black,” but the heavily promoted “Hemlock Grove” has been described as “absolutely dreadful“ by critics, while fellow Netflix originals “Lilyhammer” and “Bad Samaritans” haven’t been described as much of anything, because no one has actually watched them.
We’re still eager to see how “The Green Legend” turns out, but everyone should hold off until Netflix’s fourth or fifth original movie before anointing them the new kings of the silver screen.
[image via Netflix]
