Red Cliff (film)

For other uses, see Red Cliff.

Red Cliff
American poster for the edited release
Chinese赤壁
Literal meaningred cliffs
Hanyu Pinyinchì bì
Directed byJohn Woo
Written by
Based onRomance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
Edited by
  • Yang Hongyu
  • Angie Lam
  • Robert A. Ferretti (Part I)
  • David Wu (Part II)
Music byTarō Iwashiro
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 10 July 2008 (2008-07-10) (Part I)
  • 7 January 2009 (2009-01-07) (Part II)
Running time
  • Part I: 146 minutes
  • Part II: 142 minutes
    •     total: 288 minutes
  • Abridged version: 148 minutes[3]
Countries
  • China
  • Hong Kong
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • Taiwan
  • United States
LanguageMandarin
BudgetUS$80 million[4]
Box officeUS$250.1 million[1][5][6][7]

Red Cliff or Chibi (Chinese: 赤壁) is a 2008–2009 internationally co-produced epic war film, based on the Battle of Red Cliffs (208–209 AD) and the events at the end of the Han dynasty and immediately prior to the Three Kingdoms period in Imperial China. The film was directed by John Woo, and stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, and Lin Chi-ling. It was Woo's first major film since 2003's Paycheck[8] and his first Chinese-language feature since 1992's Hard Boiled,[9] also starring Leung.

In China and much of Asia, Red Cliff was released in two parts, totaling over four hours in length (288 minutes). The first part (146 minutes) premiered in Beijing on 2 July 2008 and the second (142 minutes) was released in China on 7 January 2009. Outside Asia, a cut-down single 148 minute version was released in 2009. However, the full-length two-part version was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 5 October 2009,[10] and in the United States and Canada on 23 March 2010.[11]

The first part of the film grossed over US$127 million internationally,[12] and broke the Chinese box office record previously held by Titanic in mainland China.[13]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Chi bi (Red Cliff: Part I) (2008)". Box Office Mojo.
  2. ^ "Red Cliff (2009)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Red Cliff (15) (cut)". British Board of Film Classification. 27 April 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Red Cliff – Production Notes" (DOC). Magnolia Pictures. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  5. ^ "Chi bi: Xia – Jue zhan tian xia (Red Cliff: Part II) (2009)". Box Office Mojo.
  6. ^ "Italy Box Office, November 13–15, 2009". Box Office Mojo.
  7. ^ "Red Cliff (2009)". Box Office Mojo.
  8. ^ Tobias, Scott (19 November 2009). "Red Cliff". The A.V. Club.
  9. ^ "Red Cliff DVD review". 14 December 2009.
  10. ^ "Red Cliff (R2/UK BD) in October". DVD Times. 30 September 2009. Archived from the original on 17 November 2009. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Red Cliff international version". Amazon.com. U.S. 23 March 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  12. ^ "2008 Overseas Total Yearly Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  13. ^ 《赤壁》夺日票房冠军 大破《英雄》票房纪录 [Red Cliff wins the box office champion of the day and breaks the 'hero' box office record] (in Chinese). 6 November 2008. Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2009.