Member Close Quarters Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Anyone know info regarding when any of his titles from the 70's - 90's are getting North American blu-ray releases? Seems very odd that he's still got quite a few titles that have yet to come out. I'm aware of the latest Shout Factory releases and other countries with his blu titles. I always thought it was weird that even on DVD there is not a U.S. released version of Dragons Forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member newgen2005 Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Shout Factory is your only hope at the moment. I have seen a few US cheapies, like Armour of God 1&2, Project A - problem is these are the US edits and are cut! The Asian releases by Kam & Ronson are not bad, mostly uncut and have English subtitles plus nice artwork! I have brought a few from Japan - released by Paramount, but they can be expensive and they don't have English subtitles! Another thing that is applies to all of these releases, they are all upscaled (not true HD) and added effects to the audio! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Close Quarters Posted April 1, 2013 Author Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Yeah I have too many people that rely on an English dubbed option, otherwise I'd go the HK English sub route. I like when you get both as an option, but it doesn't happen often. Hopefully there will be news of U.S. companies getting ready to release some of his stuff. I don't get why it's taking New Line so long to get his blu's released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member newgen2005 Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 It is a shame the UK company Hong Kong Legends aren't still around, I am sure they would have given these movies the treatment they deserve! Maybe Cine Asia will doing something, who knows! Seems as long as Fortune Star are issuing companies with these upscales - we are going to keep getting the same stuff released time and time again! The only stuff we are going to get in decent quality is his later stuff, which IMO isn't worth the discs they are burnt on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Keung Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Maybe Cine Asia will doing something, who knows! Cine Asia are no more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member newgen2005 Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Cine Asia are no more... Oh no since when? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member gwailosforever Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Since a few months ago. They went under... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OldPangYau Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 newgen2005 summed it up best, Fortune Star keeps supplying everyone with upconversions of their standard def transfers and passing them off as "HD". This pisses me off, because you look at someone like Celestial who made HUNDREDS of HD masters from the Shaws library and wonder why the hell FS didn't make the same effort! Also, Japan seems to be the only country actively releasing Jackie's 70s and 80s films on blu, even the Lo Wei films... but once again, they're all upconverts. The only one I've bought myself so far was the Japanese steelbook blu ray of Police Story, which features a true HD transfer of the extended cut as a bonus... yet the main HK cut is an upconvert Good lord, this continues to remind me of the earlier days of DVD when they would just take VHS or laserdisc masters and slap them on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member newgen2005 Posted April 1, 2013 Member Share Posted April 1, 2013 Since a few months ago. They went under... A real shame! Did they have any connections with HKL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member reason108 Posted April 2, 2013 Member Share Posted April 2, 2013 If only the Japanese blu`s had English subs...the world would be a much better place to live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 2, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 2, 2013 I always thought it was weird that even on DVD there is not a U.S. released version of Dragons Forever. Me too. This is my favorite JC film, and the fact that it co-stars Sammo and Yuen Biao? I'd have thought it would be a no-brainer to put this out as a US release. How does THUNDERBOLT get a US region 1 release, but not DRAGONS FOREVER? If only the Japanese blu`s had English subs...the world would be a much better place to live in. I can't understand why they don't do that. The companies would sell to a whole new, expanded customer base if they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted April 2, 2013 Member Share Posted April 2, 2013 I can't understand why they don't do that. The companies would sell to a whole new, expanded customer base if they did. Usually subtitles have to be licensed. If a Japanese distributor wants to release a Hong Kong film with English subs, I'm sure they have to pay extra for the "English rights". Similarly Japanese companies often omit subs from their own films in hopes of increasing the chances of selling the rights to foreign distributors. To be honest, I don't think they would sell that many extra copies even with subs. The truth is that even on a forum like this half of the people think the cost of JP releases is too high and some don't know what region Japan is. See how some Japanese dvds and Blu-Rays do have English subs (such as all Takeshi Kitano releases since Hana-bi) but even then half of the folks bough a bootleg for whatever reason. Or just waited for a US/EU release. Or downloaded. I think the sad thruth may be that the biggest beneficiary of subs on popular Japanese releases would be bootleggers, who would save the subbing cost and could just make a direct port and sell it for half the price... (That's not to say I agree with nearly all of that business logic, but that would be a long discussion) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 2, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 2, 2013 Usually subtitles have to be licensed. If a Japanese distributor wants to release a Hong Kong film with English subs, I'm sure they have to pay extra for the "English rights". Similarly Japanese companies often omit subs from their own films in hopes of increasing the chances of selling the rights to foreign distributors. I didn't know that. I guess it makes sense though. To be honest, I don't think they would sell that many extra copies even with subs. The truth is that even on a forum like this half of the people think the cost of JP releases is too high and some don't know what region Japan is. See how some Japanese dvds and Blu-Rays do have English subs (such as all Takeshi Kitano releases since Hana-bi) but even then half of the folks bough a bootleg for whatever reason. Or just waited for a US/EU release. Or downloaded. Hmmm... yeah, I hear you. I admit that I do think that Japanese DVDs/BDs are too steeply priced, but I've still bought some. If they released the JC films in their typical extras-packed, beautiful PQ, uncut edition, fashion with English subs, I would absolutely buy these once-and-for-all "ultimate editions" of those classics. I know some other hard-core collectors that would follow suit as well. But would the "general public" buy these expensive editions? No, I'm sure you're right, they wouldn't. I think the sad thruth may be that the biggest beneficiary of subs on popular Japanese releases would be bootleggers, who would save the subbing cost and could just make a direct port and sell it for half the price... Ah, what a strange world we live in where normal people can't benefit from something because of steps taken to prevent thieves from doing their thing. So my son has to pay high car insurance rates (even though he doesn't drink) because of all the morons that get drunk and drive, innocent people have to go through what only prisoners used to have to deal with, just to get on an airplane, and companies have stopped releasing Asian films because they can't profit in this bootleg infested market. (That's not to say I agree with nearly all of that business logic, but that would be a long discussion) Right on. There's probably already 50 mind-numbing threads on the whole bootleg controversy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted April 2, 2013 Member Share Posted April 2, 2013 Many good points there, Takuma and Bob. Do you think if Celestial had included the old english dubs on the Shaw releases, that they would have cut off the bootleggers, or made their job easier? I've often wondered this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 2, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 2, 2013 Many good points there, Takuma and Bob. Do you think if Celestial had included the old english dubs on the Shaw releases, that they would have cut off the bootleggers, or made their job easier? I've often wondered this. If the DVDs had included the English dubs and been made available in All-Region friendly editions, people would surely have bought the official versions! But since they came out in HK as R3 discs, and so many fans don't own All-Region players,and then it took many, many years to get releases in other countries, the bootleggers would have gone even crazier churning out unofficial copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted April 2, 2013 Member Share Posted April 2, 2013 Right, the region issue... didn't really consider that. Never been a problem for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Close Quarters Posted April 2, 2013 Author Member Share Posted April 2, 2013 Me too. This is my favorite JC film, and the fact that it co-stars Sammo and Yuen Biao? I'd have thought it would be a no-brainer to put this out as a US release. How does THUNDERBOLT get a US region 1 release, but not DRAGONS FOREVER? I can't understand why they don't do that. The companies would sell to a whole new, expanded customer base if they did. It was a major company that picked up Thunderbolt, but Dragons Forever I thought at least would have got a Tai Seng release like Wheels On Meals. Also odd how we haven't gotten much of the Lucky Stars series released in the U.S. Maybe Shout Factory one day, who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 3, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 3, 2013 It was a major company that picked up Thunderbolt, but Dragons Forever I thought at least would have got a Tai Seng release like Wheels On Meals. Also odd how we haven't gotten much of the Lucky Stars series released in the U.S. Maybe Shout Factory one day, who knows. Back in the day Tai Seng did release two versions of DRAGONS FOREVER on VHS. They put out both an English dubbed and an English subtitled tape, and each of them had a bit of different footage as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OldPangYau Posted April 3, 2013 Member Share Posted April 3, 2013 Back in the day Tai Seng did release two versions of DRAGONS FOREVER on VHS. They put out both an English dubbed and an English subtitled tape, and each of them had a bit of different footage as well. Part of me does miss the old days of Tai Seng VHS... but of course, with VHS, you had to pick dubbed or subtitled As for films like Dragons Forever, Wheels on Meals, etc, Miramax seems to be sitting on them by only playing them on streaming sites such as Hulu. Hell, their version of Dragons Forever even played on Spike TV years ago, subtitles and all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member reason108 Posted April 3, 2013 Member Share Posted April 3, 2013 I really need to get some of my old VHS Tai Seng dubbed tapes to dvd or blu ray. It still drives me insane to know how many different versions of one movie that may be out there. I really do hate* being a collector of movies. (*ok, hate is such a strong word. i just wish that there was one disc of each of these movies to rule them all.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 3, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 3, 2013 As for films like Dragons Forever, Wheels on Meals, etc, Miramax seems to be sitting on them by only playing them on streaming sites such as Hulu. Hell, their version of Dragons Forever even played on Spike TV years ago, subtitles and all! Really? I didn't know that. I can't remember the last time I watched an Asian film on TV. I have so many DVDs (not to mention VHS, laser discs, VCDs, and even a few BDs) to watch that I'm never scanning TV for interesting broadcasts. It's good to know that these films have been put out there for the less obsessive fans to enjoy too. Were the JC films that were shown on TV all cut up, and sporting different dubs, music, and credits like the other Miramax versions? i just wish that there was one disc of each of these movies to rule them all.) Amen! When DVD first came out I thought it was going to be to home viewing, what the invention of the wheel was to travel. I figured that now they could release a nice clean version of each film, with "branching" technology allowing multiple versions of a film to all be on one disc- therefore including the original release, the international version, the director's cut version, etc. And that each film would come in all the languages it was known for, plus dubbing, and multiple subtitles, and that naturally each one would contain any extras or special features that were in existence- interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, making of docs, and they would all have the original theatrical poster artwork on their covers... LOL Oh how naive I was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OldPangYau Posted April 3, 2013 Member Share Posted April 3, 2013 Really? I didn't know that. I can't remember the last time I watched an Asian film on TV. I have so many DVDs (not to mention VHS, laser discs, VCDs, and even a few BDs) to watch that I'm never scanning TV for interesting broadcasts. It's good to know that these films have been put out there for the less obsessive fans to enjoy too. Were the JC films that were shown on TV all cut up, and sporting different dubs, music, and credits like the other Miramax versions? Nope, this was legitimately the HK version! Well, 99% so. The only difference was that the opening credits were taken from the English-friendly international version... but other than that, it was the HK cut of the film and in Cantonese. And yes, this played on Spike TV! Never seen a subtitled HK film on a "mainstream" channel before or since. But yeah, this version still plays on HuluPlus, along with Wheels on Meals and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. Hell, they even have an HD Miramax version of the infamous Iron Monkey 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 3, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 3, 2013 Nope, this was legitimately the HK version! Well, 99% so. The only difference was that the opening credits were taken from the English-friendly international version... but other than that, it was the HK cut of the film and in Cantonese. And yes, this played on Spike TV! Never seen a subtitled HK film on a "mainstream" channel before or since. But yeah, this version still plays on HuluPlus, along with Wheels on Meals and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. Hell, they even have an HD Miramax version of the infamous Iron Monkey 2 Interesting stuff. Thanks for the details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OldPangYau Posted April 4, 2013 Member Share Posted April 4, 2013 Indeed! I think they have the first two Tiger Cage films as well... haven't checked out the details on them yet, though. Then again, I've yet to see them at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted April 4, 2013 Administrator Share Posted April 4, 2013 Indeed! I think they have the first two Tiger Cage films as well... haven't checked out the details on them yet, though. Then again, I've yet to see them at all No kidding? You should definitely check them out. They're both decent flicks with great action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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