Red Cliff (film)

Red Cliff or Chibi (Chinese: 赤壁; pinyin: Chì bì) is a 2008–2009 internationally co-produced epic war film produced and directed by John Woo. The film is 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 Woo’s first major film since 2003’s Paycheck and his first Chinese-language feature film since 1992’s Hard Boiled. The film stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, with a supporting cast of Takeshi Kaneshiro, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Wei, Hu Jun, and Lin Chi-ling.

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, and in the United States and Canada on 23 March 2010.

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