StudioCanal division Wild Bunch is boarding Purple Butterfly, the next film by Suzhou River director Lou Ye, which will topline Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's star Zhang Ziyi.

Produced by Shanghai Film Studios, Purple Butterfly is an Hitchcokian adventure/romance set in Shanghai at the time of the Japanese invasion of China.

The film is billed as a cross between Crouching Tiger and a John Woo movie and is being positioned as a palatable exotic action/period piece for mainstream worldwide audiences. The film is to start filming as of the beginning of June in Shangai.