‘The Forbidden Kingdom’: Two Asians in Hollywood box office

‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ the latest release from Hollywood Martial Art adventure movie starring two Asians; Chinese Jet Li and Hong Kong Jackie Chan and became a box office is now being screened at Liberty cinema, Colombo. A directorial venture by 'The Lion King' famed director, Rob Minkoff, the film The Forbidden Kingdom concerns a battle between the Jade Warrior (Collin Chou) and the Monkey King (Jet Li), immortal gods and enemies.

In the film, American teenager Jason (Michael Angarano), who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kungfu classics, finds an antique Chinese staff in a pawn shop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King (Jet Li). With the lost relic in hand, Jason unexpectedly finds himself transported back to ancient China.

There, he meets the drunken kungfu master, Lu Yan (Jackie Chan); an enigmatic and skillful Silent Monk (Jet Li); and a vengeance-bent kungfu beauty, Golden Sparrow (Crystal Liu Yi Fei), who lead him on his quest to return the staff to its rightful owner, the Monkey King - imprisoned in stone by the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) for five hundred years. Along the way, while attempting to outmaneuver scores of Jade Warriors, Cult Killers and the deadly White Hair Demoness, Ni Chang (Li Bing Bing), Jason learns about honor, loyalty and friendship, and the true meaning of kungfu, and thus frees himself.

Working together for the first time the two Hollywood famed actors doing film action scenes expressed how easy it was to work with one another.

"I have not worked with someone whom I'm comfortable with, in terms of movements, rhythm and natural reactions, in the last 10 years. I have done many fight scenes with others but there were usually more than 10 takes, which is a waste of time as the person may forget his moves and unnecessary injuries. When I fought with Li, our actions were quick. We also didn't have to do the same stunt over 20 times," added Chan.

"We achieved our purposes," Lionsgate distribution president Steve Rothenberg said. "We got the older, martial arts crowd who have been following Jet Li and Jackie Chan for years, and the PG-13 rating helped us also get the teenaged crowd." "If you get Jackie and Jet in the same movie, you have boxoffice gold," Weinstein Co. co-topper Harvey Weinstein said.

Produced on a shared budget estimated at $55 million, "Kingdom" represented a first film financing through the Weinstein Co.'s recently unveiled $285 million Asian fund. Hollywood martial arts-adventure film from Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company the film also starred Liu Yifei, Collin Chou, Li Bingbing, Michael Angarano, Dale Marshall and Daniel Sleight.