One of the greatest martial artists of all time in the movie business is getting a big break with a new movie franchise based on Square Enix and United Front Games open-world action title, Sleeping Dogs. The real news, though, is that Donnie Yen will be starring in the game as the undercover cop set to take down the Triad.
The news comes courtesy of a report from Deadspin who broke the story. They’re reporting that the movie will closely follow United Front’s Sleeping Dogs, which sold decently over time but not enough in its initial launch quarter to warrant a full fledged sequel. Details on the movie are nil, but the article notes that the movie will be produced by Original Film and DJ2 Entertainment.
The film is still gathering financiers, so don’t expect shooting to start any time soon.
This is cool news coming off other big blockbusters that have recently done well in theaters starring Yen, including his highly lauded role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and his role in xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. Deadspin even notes that the marketing for the latter film had Yen taking top billing on the posters over Vin Diesel in order to push more Chinese movie goers into seats, given how popular Yen is over in China.
I just find it absolutely hilarious that they’re making a movie based on a game that was based on Hong Kong action cinema from John Woo, Jackie Chan and… yes, Donnie Yen.
Sleeping Dogs was like a mix of Police Story, In The Line of Duty, Super Cop and Hard Boiled.
So it’s a movie based on a game based on the movies that the movie is going to be about. That’s some Hong Kong-ception right there. In fact, Donnie Yen’s Flash Point was basically Sleeping Dogs before Sleeping Dogs, but let’s not let that get in the way of Hollywood possibly doing a good thing here.
Anyway, Sleeping Dogs was a great game. It felt like it would have made for a good Netflix show as opposed to a live-action film, but anything to see Yen back on the big screen in a big blockbuster and I’m all in.
Now there’s only one really big question that still needs to be answered: is Will Yun Lee salty he didn’t get cast in the movie?
