Jet Li. Jackie Chan. Yuen Woo-ping. Kung fu out the wazoo. Holy sweet Jesus, this is one movie martial arts fans will be oozing all over the place waiting for. And that’s exactly what Liongates, who are fronting the money for the project, wants. The first-ever teaming of Jet Li and Jackie Chan (with action by Woo-ping), will be called “The Forbidden Kingdom”, and it will be based on the Chinese story of “Journey to the West”, in which a monkey king helps guard a Buddhist monk who searches for religious texts. In “Forbidden”, a teenage fan of kung fu movies travels back in time after discovering the monkey king’s stick weapon in a Chinatown pawn shop.
“The Forbidden Kingdom” will be directed by Rob Minkoff (”The Lion King”) and shot by Peter Pau (”Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”). There are no information on which role Li and Chan will play, but if they don’t get to fight onscreen — a lot — then this won’t be worth it. So make them fight onscreen!
A scene from a play version of “Journey to the West.” Let’s hope the Li-Chan one has better action.
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