File photo of John Woo

John Woo's historical epic Red Cliff is to be released in North American movie theaters later this year, marking the director's first U.S. release in six years.

Magnet Releasing says it has bought the American rights and will release it this fall. The film will be released in Canada at the same time.

Red Cliff, about an ancient Chinese battle of the same name, was Hong Kong native Woo's first Chinese-language film since the 1992 action thriller Hard-Boiled. The $80-million movie starring Cannes Best Actor winner Tony Leung and Japanese-Chinese heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro, was a massive hit in Asia, earning more than $100 million in Japan alone, according to Magnet Releasing.

The two-part film will be released in North America as a single installment for Western audiences but both Asian installments will be issued on DVD and video-on-demand services.

The U.S. deal is Woo's first release in the U.S. since Paycheck, the 2003 sci-fi thriller starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. While Mission: Impossible II was Woo's big U.S. hit in 2000, earning $215 million, his two Hollywood follow-ups were less successful, the 2002 war film Windtalkers raking in $41 million and Paycheck $54 million.

(China Daily May 20, 2009)