Ang Lee's Next Film to Explore Boxing's Greatest Fights in 3D

One of the biggest question marks going into last year's Life of Pi was how Ang Lee would acclimate himself to the use of 3D, a technology he was completely unfamiliar with at the time. Turns out he handled it quite well, so well that he won an Academy Award for directing, and the film went on to bust $600M at the box office. And now it appears that Lee has become a total convert to the benefits of 3D, because he'll explore it further in his next project centered on some of boxing's greatest fights. That's right, he's making a boxing movie.

The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon will trade in the martial arts for the sweet science of boxing, covering the sport from the 1960s through the '70.  Written by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon), it will focus on some of the sport's most iconic rivalries, including the "Thrilla in Manilla" between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, which will be recreated in 3D. It's unclear how the narrative will work, but somehow it will connect all of these fights together. Lee will also serve as a producer, and it seems that he's working to be on the cutting edge of 3D technology in the same way as James Cameron.

Boxing is an incredibly visual sport and makes for some of the most iconic sports movies, so there's great potential for this to be on the level of films like Raging Bull and Rocky. No word on when filming will begin, but I'm intrigued to see what Lee has up his sleeve. [Deadline]