Scottish film distributor owns prints to Sammo's 90's films

[TheKungFuRobber]

The distributor's name is Park Circus and they are based in Scotland, UK. Presumably Glasgow with the name of the distributor. They own many prints of Hong Kong Classics, including some Sammo classics and are restoring them for distribution to cinemas and drive ins.

Pedicab Driver:

http://www.parkcircus.com/films/17728-pedicab-driver

Enter the Fat Dragon:

http://www.parkcircus.com/films/19781-enter-the-fat-dragon

Blade of Fury:

http://www.parkcircus.com/films/19799-blade-of-fury

Project A:

http://www.parkcircus.com/films/8042-jackie-chans-project-a

Mr Nice Guy:

http://www.parkcircus.com/films/19804-mr-nice-guy

Hopefully these will get DVD and Blu Ray releases soon enough if Warner will stop sitting on them.

[TheKungFuRobber]

Here is a brouchure highlighting all the films they have invested in with high res pictures from the films. They also seem to own uncut prints for Jackie Chan movies.

http://www.parkcircus.com/assets/0009/6140/PARKCIRCUS-HKandChina.pdf

And a whole catologue of Golden Harvest films they own:

http://www.parkcircus.com/films/collections/876_golden_harvest

[Kwok Choi]

TheKungFuRobber thanks for this thread but I have doubts about Park Circus owning rights or prints of these films rather I think they facilitate access to screening these films digitally in cinemas via the actual copyright owners making the process less bureaucratic.

I have dealt with them before when I did a 4K digital theatrical test screening of the Special Edition restored version Lawrence Of Arabia.

Check this page for more details......http://www.parkcircus.com/what_we_do

[TheKungFuRobber]

TheKungFuRobber thanks for this thread but I have doubts about Park Circus owning rights or prints of these films rather I think they facilitate access to screening these films digitally in cinemas via the actual copyright owners making the process less bureaucratic.

I have dealt with them before when I did a 4K digital theatrical test screening of the Special Edition restored version Lawrence Of Arabia.

Check this page for more details......http://www.parkcircus.com/what_we_do

Aww, I had my hopes up there. Hopefully soon these films will see the light of day in remastered DVD or Blu Ray format.

[reason108]

Well, this might be a way to partially resolve a problem. The Japanese have already done this. But, if you can not get an HD source from FS then find and restore an theatrical print and put that on blu-ray. They still have to license the rights to put the film out on blu or dvd but they can use their own remastered prints with original audio. Shouldn't be a problem as long as they have an uncut print. Cause, as we all know, hell will freeze over before FS does anything to give us true HD films.

[TheKungFuRobber]

Sorry reason108, but I didn't understand your post. Fortune Star does not own the rights to any of these films (except maybe Project A). The majority of these films don't even have official DVD releases, never mind blu-ray. The only format you can get Pedicab Driver, Enter the Fat Dragon or Blade of Fury in is very poor quality VCD or VHS, and none are in original aspect ratio either.

[kami]

MR. NICE GUY is owned by Warner and was, of course, released on dvd. And there is a high quality release of BLADE OF FURY in France.

[TheKungFuRobber]

MR. NICE GUY is owned by Warner and was, of course, released on dvd. And there is a high quality release of BLADE OF FURY in France.

I'm not denying that Mr. Nice Guy was released on DVD. However, the only decent looking and anamorphic widescreen releases use the 85 minute US dubbed version and I can't find any uncut, anamorphic widescreen and subtitled DVD. Also, thanks for the info on Blade of Fury.

[Asmo]

I'm not denying that Mr. Nice Guy was released on DVD. However, the only decent looking and anamorphic widescreen releases use the 85 minute US dubbed version and I can't find any uncut, anamorphic widescreen and subtitled DVD. Also, thanks for the info on Blade of Fury.

If an anamorphic, uncut Mr. Nice Guy was released it wouldn't need much subtitling as the original language is English. I see your point though.

[TheKungFuRobber]

I didn't know Mr Nice Guy was shot entirely in English. In that case, re-editing it was kind of pointless anyway. Sometimes I think distributors only re-edit films as something to do out of boredom.

[the moose]

Sorry reason108, but I didn't understand your post. Fortune Star does not own the rights to any of these films (except maybe Project A). The majority of these films don't even have official DVD releases, never mind blu-ray. The only format you can get Pedicab Driver, Enter the Fat Dragon or Blade of Fury in is very poor quality VCD or VHS, and none are in original aspect ratio either.

I have a bootleg of Blade of fury, I downloaded from a site a few years back. The picture is in mint pristine condition. It has had a decent dvd release before in some countries. there is a 480p quality rip on you tube if you have a program to download it from there (I recommend 'clipgrab')

[Asmo]

I didn't know Mr Nice Guy was shot entirely in English. In that case, re-editing it was kind of pointless anyway. Sometimes I think distributors only re-edit films as something to do out of boredom.

Mostly in English, the scenes that were in Mandarin on the dubbed print (the few short scenes with Jackie and Miki Lee) were in Mandarin originally.

Either way, not much would need subtitling. If I recall, the Japanese print also has an exclusive scene not in any other release, so it's longer still.

Boredom, and hyperactive ideas of what distributors think won't play for international audiences.

[reason108]

Sorry reason108, but I didn't understand your post. Fortune Star does not own the rights to any of these films (except maybe Project A). The majority of these films don't even have official DVD releases, never mind blu-ray. The only format you can get Pedicab Driver, Enter the Fat Dragon or Blade of Fury in is very poor quality VCD or VHS, and none are in original aspect ratio either.

Sorry about the confusion. I was thinking of Project A and some of the other films that FS do own the rights to. It just seems that they are the only ones that are not willing to give their films the true HD treatment. The other films (Pedicab Driver, Enter the Fat Dragon or Blade of Fury) I have no idea who owns the rights to them. But, I would assume that if it was someone legit then they would want to put out a true HD blu-ray. Though, was Pedicab Driver a Golden Harvest film? If it was then I would think that maybe FS do own the rights to it. I haven't watched the film in years and do not remember what credits appear on the scrawl. If no one owns these then where are the negatives? Lost forever? Where does stuff like this end up?

[Asmo]

Sorry about the confusion. I was thinking of Project A and some of the other films that FS do own the rights to. It just seems that they are the only ones that are not willing to give their films the true HD treatment. The other films (Pedicab Driver, Enter the Fat Dragon or Blade of Fury) I have no idea who owns the rights to them. But, I would assume that if it was someone legit then they would want to put out a true HD blu-ray. Though, was Pedicab Driver a Golden Harvest film? If it was then I would think that maybe FS do own the rights to it. I haven't watched the film in years and do not remember what credits appear on the scrawl. If no one owns these then where are the negatives? Lost forever? Where does stuff like this end up?

Pedicab Driver and the other Bojon films are owned by Warner. They seemed to have acquired them with the Golden Harvest titles they own the rights to. I don't necessarily know if that means Golden Harvest had them at some point.

[muppetdanny]

This must be the same company who's supplied a copy of ETD to Odeon cinemas at the moment: http://www.odeon.co.uk/films/enter_the_dragon/12683/

[TheKungFuRobber]

As far as I know, Pedicab driver was owned by Bojon but distributed to cinemas through Golden Harvest before Warner Brothers bought it

[Asmo]

As far as I know, Pedicab driver was owned by Bojon but distributed to cinemas through Golden Harvest before Warner Brothers bought it

I didn't think Sammo was associated with GH at all, after he split from them, until he choreograped Thunderbolt. Though I suppose distribution could have been a different matter.

[the moose]

I didn't think Sammo was associated with GH at all, after he split from them, until he choreograped Thunderbolt. Though I suppose distribution could have been a different matter.

Another film directed by Sammo Blade of Fury was also distributed by GH. Although production of the movie was nowt to do with them. New dragon gate inn, Kid from tibet, from beijing with love, return to a better tomorrow and countless other hong kong movies were distributed by golden harvest but not actually produced by them. Sammo made the huge budget eastern condors which became the biggest money loss for GH at the box office ever. (before ringo lams burning paradise toppled that off the biggest loss spot in 1994) that may have had something to do with him being fired from golden harvest.

[Asmo]

Another film directed by Sammo Blade of Fury was also distributed by GH. Although production of the movie was nowt to do with them. New dragon gate inn, Kid from tibet, from beijing with love, return to a better tomorrow and countless other hong kong movies were distributed by golden harvest but not actually produced by them. Sammo made the huge budget eastern condors which became the biggest money loss for GH at the box office ever. (before ringo lams burning paradise toppled that off the biggest loss spot in 1994) that may have had something to do with him being fired from golden harvest.

Fair enough then. Hadn't realised that the Sammo films at least were distributed by GH.

The story we hear about him leaving/getting fired was to do with Sammo feeling that GH weren't promoting Into the Fire enough. Maybe they thought Into the Fire would follow a similar fate to Eastern Condors, which incidentally I was unaware of it being such a loss for them.

[KenHashibe]

Park Circus has distributed 35mm prints for Police Story 3 and Drunken Master 2 to the Egyptian Theatre for screenings coming up in late May. Both prints are in English, but I don't know if they're uncut.

More info:

http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?p=255666#post255666