John Woo's WWII Air Combat Film Heading to IMAX

This is the sort of thing IMAX can do more of to avoid just delivering movies shot in standard format on larger screens with a better but not optimal presentation. Not that it's not cool from time to time, but it's the same kind of argument we make against upconverted 3-D: If you don't shoot it that way, it's not going to be the end result you're after from a technical standpoint, and people won't always spend more on the tickets just to see a bigger version of the same film.

Anyway, this is slightly different, because it's not a ready-made blockbuster. John Woo will begin work on Flying Tigers, an aerial battle film he's had cooking for a while, and CAA and IMAX are working together to help make the project fit the IMAX screens, although I'm not certain any sequences will be shot in IMAX. That would be great news. I'm a sucker for aerial or naval battles in movies, so that's got me interested in this already, and with CAA and IMAX stepping up, it's more likely than ever that American financing will come together for this bilingual effort depicting an Army Air Corps lieutenant general who trains the first Chinese fighter pilots in World War II.

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Woo-Hoo! Woo Woos Cruise

Two years ago, this news would have you running for the hills. John Woo and Tom Cruise, who made that hulking mass of mediocrity known as Mission: Impossible 2, are getting back together for a World War II epic called Flying Tigers.

Why would you have a recent change of heart? Well, Cruise has made smarter choices, like his Tropic Thunder cameo and the mostly solid Valkyrie and Woo, who went from one of the most promising import directors to one of the more embarrassing in a handful of years, has reportedly bounced back with his Chinese period drama Red Cliff. Another reason to be encouraged is that this film apparently has a script co-written by Christopher McQuarrie. Coming Soon talked to Woo about the project last week, and here's his official synopsis:

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John Woo Promises 'Hard Boiled 2'...Someday

While the world waits for John Woo's sweeping historical film Red Cliff (...OK, the world may be overstating it a bit), the action director still has a sequel to Hard Boiled in his back pocket. And it's likely to stay there for a while.

Woo tells Empire, "I'm involved as producer. We're working on the script and I'm sure it's gonna be a very interesting movie, but it won't be ready until years from now."

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