the promise

Watch trailer here



The Promise (Simplified Chinese: 无极; Traditional Chinese: 無極; pinyin: Wújí; literally "Limitless") is an epic fantasy movie directed by Chen Kaige and starring Jang Dong-gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse.

It was first released in mainland China on December 15, 2005,[1] as well as Hong Kong and Singapore. The Weinstein Company adapted it for North American distributions and 3-day preview screenings, but they sold the movie to Warner Independent Pictures. While under the holds of TWC, they trimmed down 19 minutes of scenes and renamed it Master of the Crimson Armor. Eventually, it was released on May 5, 2006 as The Promise.

When it was released in Asian markets, the crowd reactions were mixed. In China however, public response was largely negative. Its commercial performance was unknown, but it was rumored to make USD$9 million dollars in mainland China in the opening week and HK$8 million dollars in Hong Kong. [1] The budget was rumored to be CN¥282~340 million yuan (USD$35~$42 million dollars), surpassing the cost of Hero. [2]

Despite that it received negative buzz and was never yet released in the US, it was one of the two Chinese movies, along with international hit Kung Fu Hustle, to receive the Best Golden Globes Foreign Language Film nomination in the history. Both eventually lost to Paradise Now in an awards ceremony.