Tsui Hark and Jet Li’s 3D martial arts epic Flying Swords of Dragon Gate to be released in IMAX

IMAX and leading Chinese film distributor Bona Film Group today announced that the 3D martial arts film Flying Swords of Dragon Gate will be digitally re-mastered into the IMAX 3D format and released to IMAX theatres in China day-and-date in December 2011. Flying Swords of Dragon Gate: An IMAX 3D Experience is the first Chinese-language production to be released in IMAX 3D. The film reunites renowned director Tsui Hark with his Once Upon a Time in China leading man, Jet Li, and also stars Zhou Xun, Aloys Chen Kun, Li Yuchun and Kwai Lun-Mei.

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate will be the third Chinese-language film to be released in the IMAX format. As IMAX’s fastest-growing international market, with 48 theatres currently in operation and 129 in backlog, China is home to some of the Company’s highest-grossing theatres in the world.

“IMAX motion picture technologies have revolutionized the moviegoing experience and together we are making history by presenting Flying Swords of Dragon Gate in the immersive IMAX 3D format,” said Dong Yu, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Bona Film Group, the producer and distributor of the film. “We are pleased to join forces with IMAX and offer audiences the opportunity to be transported into Tsui Hark’s epic martial arts tale.”

“As the first-ever Chinese martial-arts film to be presented in 3D, we’re extremely proud to partner with Bona Films to deliver Flying Swords of Dragon Gate in IMAX 3D,” said Greg Foster, IMAX Chairman and President of Filmed Entertainment. “Chinese moviegoers crave more local films presented in IMAX and as our network expansion in China continues, we look forward to meeting this growing consumer demand.”

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate: An IMAX 3D Experience will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX 3D. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique immersive environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

Chow Wai-On, a Ming Dynasty general played by Jet Li, finds himself at odds with Yu Hua-Tian (Aloys Chen Kun), an evil, power-hungry eunuch. Eventually, these two adversaries cross paths with Lin Yan-Qiu (Zhou Xun) at the titular Dragon Gate Inn, a remote outpost in the desert at the very frontier of the kingdom.

Bona Film Group’s businesses include film production, film distribution, advertising, theatre management, film exhibition and talent representation. Bona distributes films to Europe, Greater China, Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States, invests and produces movies in a variety of genres, owns and operates seventeen movie theaters and manages a range of popular Chinese artists.