Chinese remake of Coen Bros' "Blood Simple"

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Sony Pictures Classics is continuing its relationship with filmmaker Zhang Yimou, agreeing to distribute his planned remake of the Coen brothers' comedic thriller "Blood Simple" domestically and in several major foreign territories.

The untitled redo will be set in a Chinese noodle shop in a dune-specked desert, rather than a bar in an unnamed Texas town, and revolve around the restaurant owner's plan to murder his adulterous wife and her lover.

Pic will be the first Zhang has helmed since shepherding the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

SPC will unspool the "Blood Simple" remake in North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

"Blood Simple," released in 1984, was the first film the Coen brothers helmed together.

New version will be produced by Bill Kong, who has a long relationship with Sony Classics. SPC, co-founded and run by co-prexies Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, has distribbed five Kong-produced films, starting with Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" in 2000.

New pic will be the 11th from Zhang that SPC will have released, dating back to 1991's "Raise the Red Lantern."
Others include "Shanghai Triad," "House of Flying Daggers" and "Curse of the Golden Flower."
Sony Classics also owns the rights to Zhang's first film, 1987's "Red Sorghum."