Tiger burns brightly in UK

Crouching Tiger mixes romance, fantasy and martial arts

Martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is on course to become the most successful ever foreign language film in the UK.

Thousands of fans have rushed to see the movie, which is in Mandarin, in the first three days it has been on release.

Directed by Ang Lee and starring Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat, it has been tipped for Oscar success later in the year.

Top 5 foreign films in the UK

1. Life is Beautiful (Italy) £3.03m

2. Cyrano de Bergerac (France) £2.45m

3. Il Postino (Italy) £1.27m

4.Delicatessen (France) £1.26m

5. All About My Mother (Spain) £1.1m

It pulled in £686,386 in ticket sales from 88 screens across the country over the weekend.

The Italian film, Life is Beautiful, starring Roberto Benigni, is the most successful foreign-language film in the UK, earning more than £3m at the box office.

It earned Benigni an Oscar for Best Actor but Crouching Tiger is tipped to go one better and win the coveted Best Picture award.

If successful, it would be the first foreign language film to win the Best Picture award in the 73-year history of the Oscars.

Last month, it was given four awards by the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle, including best picture.

Set in 19th Century Beijing, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an eclectic mix of poignant romantic saga, epic Chinese fantasy, and martial arts action.

The martial arts epic is Ang Lee's first Chinese-language movie for six years. Previous films include Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm and Ride with the Devil.