John Woo, Chow Yun-fat Classics Among 156-Film Golden Princess Library Acquired by Shout! Studios (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.com
Shout! Studios acquires 156 Hong Kong action classics from Golden Princess, including John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat hits like 'Hard Boiled' and 'The Killer.'

In a major move set to electrify action film aficionados, Shout! Studios has nabbed worldwide rights (excluding select Asian territories) to the coveted Golden Princess movie library, a treasure trove of 156 Hong Kong cinema classics that’s been MIA from Western markets for decades.

The deal, which brings together Hollywood’s indie powerhouse with one of Hong Kong cinema’s most prestigious catalogs, includes genre-defining works from directing legends John Woo and Tsui Hark, alongside star-studded vehicles featuring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Leslie Cheung.

The acquisition’s crown jewels include Woo’s action masterpieces “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” the complete “Better Tomorrow” trilogy, “Bullet in the Head” and “Once a Thief.” The library also boasts Ringo Lam’s “City on Fire,” “Prison on Fire” and its sequel; Eric Tsang’s “Aces Go Places”; Tsui’s “Peking Opera Blues”; Tony Ching’s “Chinese Ghost Story” trilogy; and additional hits like Wai Ka-fai’s “Peace Hotel,” Andrew Kam and Johnnie To’s “The Big Heat” and Alex Law’s “Now You See It, Now You Don’t.”

  • xyzzy@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    4 days ago

    Copying my comment from another thread:

    Just to impress upon folks the magnitude of this announcement, this the biggest news that’s ever been posted in this channel. The vast majority of these films have basically never been officially available on disc in the West.

    There have been a couple of DVD releases of Hard Boiled and The Killer, including by Criterion. Dragon Dynasty released a typically mediocre Blu-ray of The Killer. For A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the Head, Once a Thief, Prison on Fire, etc. you have to pick up a European release (usually region-locked, if you’re a North American fan). Many (all?) of these are bootlegs trying to pass themselves off as officially licensed releases.

    The quality is what you would expect. They usually don’t have the original Cantonese soundtrack, let alone the original Cantonese mono soundtrack (the later mixes are sometimes very bad), and the picture quality is usually only passable. Sometimes they’re missing English subtitles. There are also region-free Taiwanese releases of some of these, but many are missing the international cuts.

    It’s just a mess. This is the first opportunity that we’ll get many of these films in 4K or HD from new scans, with the original Cantonese mono, and with multiple cuts of the film.

    • Steve@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      Thank you for that context. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen many of these films and the lack of availability of even the most well known John Woo classics like The Killer / Hard Boiled was palpable so I knew something had to be brewing behind the scenes. I was thrilled to hear this news and wanted to share immediately. It’s such great news that a company like Shout acquired these titles so they can finally be available to as many film fans as possible and given the respectful treatment they deserve. I can’t wait to see some of these films again and it’s great to know that they’ll be presented in ways they film makers intended and fans have dreamed about for years.