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Chinese-Language-Film Gets Two Golden Global Nominations
Chinese-language-film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", a unique mix of martial arts and romance produced in Taiwan Province of China, Thursday led the foreign-language-film nominees at the 58th annual Golden Global Awards.
Other nominees in this category were "Amores Perros" from Mexico, "The Hundred Steps" and "Malena" from Italy, and "The Widow of St. Pierre" from France.
"Crouching Tiger", which got another nomination for Tan Dun as best original score, is drawing record crowds in Los Angeles and New York and is quickly becoming an art house phenomenon.
Audiences are discovering a combination of spectacular martial arts fighting, romance and even a feminist sensibility.
Long movie lines, rarely seen these days, have been forming outside the 31 theaters showing "Crouching Tiger". In Los Angeles, evening shows have been packed, prompting some ticket scalping outside the sold-out venues.
Theater owners were caught off-guard by the popularity of "Crouching Tiger". Bob Laemmle, owner of the Laemmle theater chain in Los Angeles, said he has never seen anything like this in his 30 years of showing films.
"Every theater is setting records," he said.
According to Laemmle, the 500-seat Regent Showcase in Hollywood grossed more than 61,000 dollars in its opening weekend. By
contrast, the No. 1 film in the United States "What Women Want" took in about 11,000 dollars 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 for Hong Kong-style martial arts movies.
On Friday, Sony Pictures Classics will widen the film's release,opening it on an additional 168 screens nationwide. The film is also getting a wide-screen release in some local IMAX theaters.
The film will be playing at 500 theaters nationwide by January 12. The film is being fueled by speculation that it might win Golden Globe as well as get nomination in the Oscars.
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