‘Crouching Tiger’ Burning Bright at the Box Office

It’s being labeled the “Titanic” of the independent film world, and potentially the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is drawing record crowds in Los Angeles and New York and quickly becoming an art house phenomenon.

Long movie lines--the kind rarely seen these days in the age of the multiplex--have been forming outside the 31 theaters showing “Crouching Tiger,” a unique mix of martial arts and romance. In Los Angeles and Orange County, evening shows have been packed, prompting some ticket scalping outside of sold-out venues.

Theater owners were caught off-guard by the popularity of “Crouching Tiger,” which is in Chinese with English subtitles. Bob Laemmle, owner of the Laemmle theater chain in Los Angeles, said he has never seen anything like it in his 30 years of showing independent films.

“Every theater is setting records,” he said. The 500-seat Regent Showcase in Hollywood grossed more than $61,000 in its opening weekend, Laemmle said. By contrast, the No. 1 film in the United States--”What Women Want”--took in about $11,000 per screen.

What is unique about “Crouching Tiger” is that it is appealing to so many different groups of people, ranging from teenagers who have never seen a foreign-language film to hip-hop fans to Hong Kong-style martial arts movie buffs.

The film is being fueled by strong word of mouth, critics’ awards, speculation that it might get some Golden Globe nominations when those are announced today--and talk of an Oscar best picture nomination. Audiences are discovering a combination of spectacular martial arts fighting, romance and even a feminist sensibility.

On Friday Sony Pictures Classics will widen the film’s release, opening it on an additional 168 screens nationwide; it’s also getting a wide-screen release in some local IMAX theaters. By Jan. 12, the film will be playing at 500 theaters nationwide.

The film world buzz began when “Crouching Tiger” became a sensation in festivals such as Cannes and Toronto for nearly a year. But few expected the film to strike a chord with mainstream audiences so quickly.

Certainly the film’s fantasy martial arts sequences--including flying sword battles on roofs and treetops--has appeal for the young filmgoers who flocked to “The Matrix.” That film’s gravity-defying martial arts and fantasy style appealed to an audience raised on the Internet, video games and comic books. (The same fight choreographer, Yuen Wo Ping, worked on both films.) “Crouching Tiger” and its poignant love story are also attracting older female audiences. Or maybe this year’s lackluster Hollywood movies have audiences starving for something different.

“It’s on a trajectory unlike that of most foreign-language movies,” said Paul Degarabedian of Exhibitor Relations, a box office tracking service. “It’s so visual and visceral that it really doesn’t matter that it’s subtitled and in another language.”

Tom Bernard and Michael Barker, co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics, say “Crouching Tiger’s” early success demonstrates that American audiences are willing to embrace at least some foreign-language films. “Years ago, [the Spanish-language] “All About My Mother” would have never made the $9 million it made last year,” Barker said. “Every year there are two or three of these foreign pictures that cross over and connect with a major audience.”

The question remains whether “Crouching Tiger” can bring in mass audiences the way “Life Is Beautiful,” did. The 1998 Italian film grossed $57.6 million in the United States, making it the most popular foreign-language film ever. Analysts say “Crouching Tiger,” which cost about $15 million to make, has a chance to break that record.

“Crouching Tiger” is rated PG-13, with less violence than R-rated action films such as “The Matrix.” It is directed by Ang Lee, best known to American audiences for “Sense and Sensibility,” and stars Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat and Zhang Ziyi.

If nothing else, the film’s early popularity represents a success for Sony Pictures Classics--the independent arm of Sony Studios--which planned its strategy for turning “Crouching Tiger” into a mainstream hit. For example, the studio invited hip-hop artists such as Wu Tang Clan and RZA to early screenings in New York, hoping to capitalize on the close relationship between hip-hop and martial arts--especially on the heels of last year’s box office hit “Romeo Must Die,” which intertwined hip-hop with martial arts.

“The hip-hop community responded to it in a very positive way,” said Bernard. “We knew if we got them in, it would filter into the media.”

The Asian community got involved as well. “Crouching Tiger” was released in China in the summer--although it is officially a Taiwanese film. Soon enough, Chinese families were sending bootleg copies of the film to their American relatives as well as sending unsolicited faxes to the studio with marketing advice for the Asian community, Bernard said.

The studio also started an early Internet campaign, with 600 trailers sent to various Web sites. An exclusive teenage Web site for the film called https://www.cable jump.com, set up by 13-year-old John Otrakji, posted some comments from several people who had seen the film.

One site user named Lisa wrote: “Your site is awesum [sic] and so was the part [in the movie] about the woman beating all the guys up in the Chinese restaurant.”

At art house theaters where “Crouching Tiger” is playing, audiences have been amazed by the crowds.

“The last time I was there it was myself and the three other people,” said David Davis, referring to his neighborhood theater, the Laemmle Colorado in Pasadena. “So we got there a little before the normal 15 minutes before the show this weekend and it was sold out. They were already selling tickets for the next show.”

Davis and his friends were debating what to do when the man in front of them said he had bought eight tickets and sold them at twice the cost to desperate movie-goers.

“He had been there the day before and so he saw a great opportunity shall we say,” Davis said. “He was selling those tickets at $15 each. He was on top of the world.”

“Crouching Tiger” is attracting a cross-section of filmgoers in Southern California, from Chinese families in Pasadena to teenagers in Orange to the traditional art house crowd in Santa Monica.

“My roommate has never seen a foreign film before,” said Zach Rosenblatt, 24, who went to see the film Tuesday night in Pasadena. “But he saw the previews for this movie and the sword fighting and thought it looked cool like ‘Gladiator.’ He saw it and he loved it.”

At the Orange AMC Block 30 movie theaters in Orange County, the film sold out over the weekend and even on Monday night, said Greg Haller, managing director of the theater. The film grossed nearly $48,000 in its first weekend on one screen. Haller said the Block 30 rarely picks up foreign-language films but he decided that “Crouching Tiger” would be a hit with children and their parents.

“It is a big surprise that a Chinese film with subtitles is doing so well,” Haller said. “But see, this is not an art film. It has action and added to the martial arts there is a serious love story, which is attracting people. . . . I’ve never seen a foreign film play like this in this theater.”