Netflix continues to reshape the landscape of film and TV distribution this week as they have taken another major step forward by announcing their very first original movie. They’ve already been shaking things up in Hollywood by producing a handful of original TV series like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black and also providing an exclusive release platform for several feature-length documentaries including The Short Game, The Square and The Battered Bastards of Baseball. Now they are taking on the big boys with a major film release that will be available to Netflix subscribers for no additional charge on the same day that it arrives in select IMAX theatres worldwide. That release will be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend, the follow-up to Ang Lee’s martial arts masterpiece, produced by The Weinstein Company.

The Weinsteins had great success earlier this year with their VOD release of Snowpiercer, which probably helped push them towards this deal. A sequel to Crouching Tiger does seem like the perfect film to try this experiment with, in particular because of its global appeal. The film is directed by acclaimed martial arts choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping and stars Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, Harry Shum Jr., Roger Yuan, Eugenia Yuan and Natasha Liu Bordizzo.

Netflix is planning to release more movies in the same way, but not everyone is taking kindly to the idea. Regal Theatres have quickly announced that they will not be showing the movie on any of their IMAX screens because they refuse to “participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to 3-inch wide on a smart phone.” Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend is expected to be debut on Netflix on Aug. 28th, 2015. Are you looking forward to it and do you think this is a good thing for the movie industry?