The Official "Dragon Dynasty" Thread!

[grim_tales]

SPL/Kill Zone (2 Disc Ultimate Edition) - Out now
Seven Swords (2 Disc Ultimate Edition) - Out now
Tom-Yum-Goong/The Protector (2 Disc Ultimate Edition) - Out now
Police Story - Out now
Police Story 2 - Out now
Infernal Affairs 2 - Out now
Infernal Affairs 3 - Out now
Born To Fight (2 Disc Ultimate Edition) - Out Now

Updated - 2007 Schedule: http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2007/03/ ... edule.html

SPL Spec - http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=62423
SPL Review - http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/ki ... ition.html
PS Spec - http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63387
SS Spec - http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63431
TYG Spec - http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=63432

Known Dragon Dynasty Library Titles

http://www.theblob.info/News/2006/Drago ... ibrary.htm

Fortune Star Entertainment Titles

Crime Story (Jackie Chan)
Love Asia (Maggie Q)
Millionaires Express (Sammo Hung)
Police Story (Jackie Chan)
Police Story 2 (Jackie Chan)
Righting Wrongs/ Above The Law (Corey Yuen)
Royal Tramp 1 (Stephen Chow)
Royal Tramp 2 (Stephen Chow)

Shaw Brothers Studios Titles

36th Chamber Of Shaolin (Gordon Liu)
Come Drink With Me (Cheng Pei-pei)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Gordon Liu)
Heroes Of The East (Gordon Liu)
King Boxer
Martial Arts Of Shaolin (Jet Li)

Independent Titles

A Better Tomorrow (John Woo)
A Better Tomorrow 2 (John Woo)
Born To Fight (Corey Yuen)
Bullet In The Head (John Woo)
Dragon Squad (Sammo Hung)
Fist Of Legend (2-Disc set, Jet Li)
Hardboiled (John Woo)
The Killer (John Woo)
Ong Bak 2 (Tony Jaa)
The Protector (aka Tom Yum Goong, Tony Jaa)
Seven Swords (Tsui Hark)
SPL (Donny Yen, Sammo Hung)
Tai Chi Master (2-Disc set, Jet Li)

Holy crap! Just had a gander at this DVD Talk thread:

The Weinstein Co. Builds a Dragon Dynasty
Source: The Weinstein Company May 23, 2006

Continuing their passionate dedication to bringing Asian films to American audiences, Bob and Harvey Weinstein have announced the unveiling of Dragon Dynasty, the dynamic new label under which all The Weinstein Company's Asian titles will be released, including:

Ong Bak 2
The Protector (aka Tom Yum Goong)
Born to Fight
Sha Po Lang (SPL)
Seven Swords
Dragon Squad

As well as a package of high profile titles, which was licensed from Fortune Star Entertainment: the distribution division of News Corporation's STAR Group which owns the world's largest contemporary Chinese language feature film library.

The 43 Fortune Star titles, together with a special collection of 50 classic Shaw Brothers' movies and a number of independent acquisitions, including John Woo's seminal productions

The Killer
Hardboiled
Bullet in the Head
A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2

Combine to make The Weinstein Company the leader in Asian Cinema in North America.

Quentin Tarantino, who is well recognized for his passionate interest and broad knowledge of Asian cinema, will actively work with the Weinsteins in all aspects of brand development for Dragon Dynasty.

The Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty library already includes films starring some of Asia's hottest actors such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Stephen Chow, Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh and Sammo Hung, as well as titles from legendary filmmakers John Woo, Yuen Woo-ping and Corey Yuen Kwai, amongst others. The company has ambitious plans to continue building the library, and will be acquiring titles across all genres of Asian film such as contemporary action, martial arts, epic swordplay and hi-octane thriller. The titles selected for theatrical distribution will be released by The Weinstein Company, and all home video output will be managed by Genius Products, Inc.

The Weinsteins originally acquired the collection of Shaw Brothers' movies during their tenure at Miramax Films and brought the titles with them to The Weinstein Company as part of their settlement agreement with the Walt Disney Studios.

The Weinstein Company will redefine the presentation of Asian Cinema on DVD, and is developing a number of Special Edition packages for its new brand, including 2-Disc Platinum Editions of Jet Li's world-acclaimed Fist of Legend and Tai Chi Master. Each Dragon Dynasty DVD will possess a unique and carefully crafted identity, and will include many groundbreaking, informative and exclusive special bonus features such as rare behind-the- scenes footage, deleted scenes, out-takes, and specially commissioned documentaries and interviews featuring cast members, filmmakers and celebrity enthusiasts of Asian film.

Peter Poon, General Manager of Fortune Star, stated, "Fortune Star is excited to work with TWC and their specialized team in bringing our popular titles at the highest quality for DVD release to the US market. The launch of Dragon Dynasty will be a tremendous boost to the Asian Cinema as it will now have a more powerful access to the American audiences."

Donnie Yen stated, "I'm delighted that my film 'SPL' will be one of the lead titles for Dragon Dynasty. Harvey has put a great team together for the brand, and I look forward to collaborating with them on the upcoming release of 'Seven Swords.' Finally, we Asian action film-makers have a proper platform to present our work to the international audience."

Sammo Hung stated, "I hope this new label brings more fans to our films, so that we have an even bigger audience in the future. I'm very happy to see 'SPL,' 'Dragon Squad' and some of my older films released by Dragon Dynasty. I'm a heavy hitter myself, and its good to see TWC throwing its weight behind our industry!"

Harvey Weinstein stated, "Bob and I are extremely passionate about Asian Cinema and have always been enormous fans of Asian filmmakers from Akira Kurosawa to John Woo. We started building a library of Asian titles years ago and hope to continue adding to it for years to come. Bob and I are proud to launch Dragon Dynasty and hope to continue bringing Asian cinema the recognition it deserves. Alan Bergman and the Disney team have been incredibly cooperative with the collection of Shaw Brothers' movies."

Brian White stated, "I am really excited to be building the Dragon Dynasty brand with Harvey and Bob. Their passion and dedication to the genre is really quite extraordinary, and our collective goal is to produce imaginative, visually-dynamic, feature-laden DVD titles, which are designed to take the presentation of the genre to a new level of excellence, and bring to the widest possible audience all that is special and unique in the World of Asian Cinema."

No mention of uncutness, but this does sound interesting, what with Bey Logan and Brian White on board.

[EvaUnit02]

Seven Swords

I'll wait and see what they do with this film.

The Killer, Hardboiled, Bullet in the Head, and A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2

I'd be willing to triple-dip all of those films, depending on what'll be done with them.

Quentin Tarantino, who is well recognized for his passionate interest and broad knowledge of Asian cinema, will actively work with the Weinsteins in all aspects of brand development for Dragon Dynasty.

Tarantino knows jack shit about Asian cinema, except how to half-heartedly rip it off.

2-Disc Platinum Editions of Jet Li's world-acclaimed Fist of Legend and Tai Chi Master.

Cool. Brad must feel pretty stink for buying the French releases now.

[grim_tales]

I'm hoping those 2 (FOL, TCM will be uncut, knowing Brian and Bey, or at least original language.

[thelostdragon]

I told y'all!

[Yi-Long]

Pfff... no HD? No sale!

























j/k obviously

Anyway, Hope they will do the movies justice, plus give these movies a R2 Pal release. I'm still a bit skeptic about the quality, as the Weinsteins are famous for cutting and fucking up movies. It sounds promising but unless it's uncut, subbed, and in it's original language, soundtrack and ratio, I wont be buying it. Those are the basic requirements for me to consider buying these DVDs.

LD: any more inside info you'd like to share?

[JinMode]

I'll wait and see what they'll do...

[thelostdragon]

Let me just say that many of us here will be looking for these DVDs at CD Wow.

[thelostdragon]

I'm impressed by how nobody seems to be impressed by this.

LOL!

Seriously, though, aren't you guys jumping up and down in joy right now. "Fist of Legend"... Platinum Edition... with Brian White involved... as Director of Asian Brand Management and Post-production...

Hmmm...

How about the Bey Logan-commentary?

[HungFist]

I've already got remastered Fist of Legend. And remastered Tai Chi Master too.

And it's the Weinsteins. I'm sure they manage to fuck it up somehow.

[tom2681]

Seriously, though, aren't you guys jumping up and down in joy right now

Really not. We all know that Bey has no problem with cutting movies.
We all know how the Weinsteins treat their films.

When their FOL Platinum disc is in my DVD-Player, I might change my mind.
Until then...

[thelostdragon]

I've already got remastered Fist of Legend. And remastered Tai Chi Master too.

But do you have it with a Bey Logan commentary and a second disc full of great extras?

[HungFist]

I've already got remastered Fist of Legend. And remastered Tai Chi Master too.

But do you have it with a Bey Logan commentary and a second disc full of great extras?

I'm collecting movies, not commentaries

I do admit this sounds okay. HK Video's Fist of Legend could be better. If their release is better, then I will get it. But I won't be buying it because of the extras.

Lets see what happens.

[Yi-Long]

Like Tom said. Not just the Weinstein bastards are OK with cutting movies, so is Bey! Plus Brian White was responsible for fucking up the UK release of Ong Bak. So all those involved have a bad trackrecord, and having been an asian movie fan for so damn long, it's normal to be skeptic and pessimistic.

[dragonhero005]

That´s great news!

I´m looking forward to their 2 Disc Release of FOL. As well as to their other releases.
If everything that is said is true, Dragon Dynasty is going to be the leader of Asian Cinema DVDs in the world.

As a Jackie Chan enthusiast I hope that one day, the Drunken Master movies, as well as SitEs and the Police Story movies will also be released as 2 Disc Premium Editions.

But I won´t buy their Bullet in the Head DVD - I don´t think they can top the HKL Premium Edition...

[Markgway]

I don't doubt Tarantino's passion for HK cinema, but his knowledge is yet unproven.

The way he misprounces names for one thing is a bit disconcerting when you have syllable perfect Bey on board.

[Killer Meteor]

"But I won´t buy their Bullet in the Head DVD - I don´t think they can top the HKL Premium Edition..."

Well putting the mono track on would make it better

[HungFist]

HKL Bullet is very dark and the soundtrack isn't so great. I prefer FS's raw mono track. HKL is too polished for a film like this.

I was thinking about getting the HK Video. It has mono, and the image should be better, too (according to dvdrama)

[Markgway]

"But I won´t buy their Bullet in the Head DVD - I don´t think they can top the HKL Premium Edition..."

They could include the piss drinking scene as an extra.

I remember an age old cap comparison between the HKL and IVL and each print had their pros and cons so I wouldn't replace one with the other.

[bradavon]

Seriously, though, aren't you guys jumping up and down in joy right now. "Fist of Legend"... Platinum Edition... with Brian White involved... as Director of Asian Brand Management and Post-production...

Tell me about it. Some people aren't happy unless they're moaning.

Look on the bright side guys. This wouldn't even be happening if Bey and Brian weren't involved, also look at the "mostly" outstanding work both have done for HK cinema. Without them we wouldn't have so many stella HKL DVDs.

Seriously, though, aren't you guys jumping up and down in joy right now

Really not. We all know that Bey has no problem with cutting movies.
We all know how the Weinsteins treat their films.

Not fair and not accurate.

Bey has never cut a film as far as I'm aware. He has said he has no problem with it but that is clearly just his opinion. The Weinstein's of late have released as many decent and as well as piss poor DVDs sure they're far from good but lets not forget the uncut, subbed, and in it's original language, soundtrack and ratio Shaolin Soccer.

That meets all of Yi-long's stringent rules. No doubt he'll moan he has to pay extra for the English dubbed version to (despite it being on the same disc, like I said some people aren't happy unless they're moaning).

Cool. Brad must feel pretty stink for buying the French releases now.

It cost him 50p so no not really

Only a fool would pay French prices for a DVD he/she can't watch. I have an Ported Bootleg if you will. Like many ported bootlegs it looks as good and in this case retains the Chinese mono.

I remember an age old cap comparison between the HKL and IVL and each print had their pros and cons so I wouldn't replace one with the other.

I remember seeing that and despite Gil's insistance the IVL was much better all I saw was a piss poor IVL and a lovely HKL.

The HKL PE is excellent, with really great extras too.

I told y'all!

Well you told me but I don't think you told anyone else

A proper Tai Chi Master DVD is definitely a good thing and also FOL of course but I'll probably just pick up Tai Chi Master. Hmmm not sure FOl is no DM2 in the (mostly) turkey stakes but it's no OUATIC either.

Who am I kidding I like it enough and will probably pick it up. I've only "just" created my Tai Chi Master French English subtitled DVD too

I wonder when these will actually come?

[tom2681]

@Hungfist:

BITH comparison:
http://www.cinemasie.com/fr/fiche/video ... aison.html

HKL is bad (too dark).
HKV is better (closer to IVL and less cropped).

[HungFist]

Thanks. HKL looks better IMO. Would you happen to own the dvd (HK Video)? Because I'm more interested in the soundtrack than the image. IVL sounded a bit too harsh, but I want this movie to break my ears. HKL is way too clean.

[tom2681]

I don't own any version of it yet.
If and when I do buy it, I'll get the HK Vidéo for sure.

[grim_tales]

Well I'm happy and am looking forward to a 2 disc DVD of FOL

[bradavon]

Finally a proper name but "Dragon Dynasty" sounds so naff. I'm sure I'll get used to it but DD yuck.

The Protector for TYG what a typically bad name for the Harvey Weinstein. It doesn't bode well.

@Hungfist:

BITH comparison:
http://www.cinemasie.com/fr/fiche/video ... aison.html

HKL is bad (too dark).
HKV is better (closer to IVL and less cropped).

Agreed the HKL is to dark but otherwise it's easily the best. The IVL and HK Video are a mess (compared to the HKL), who'd have thought.

The HK Video has all the sharpness zapped out of it. In reality the HKL is no where near that dark and I suspect the IVL looks better.

Not that it matters to me the HKL PE is gorgeous and more than does.

[bradavon]

I've changed the first post as the paragraph structure was doing my head in. We can now see properly what they have.

It looks like The Weinstein's took a lot of films with them including Hard Boiled and The Killer.

The Protector (aka Tom Yum Goong) - Assuming it's uncut and decently priced I'll pick this up
Born to Fight - I'll stick with my UK R2 I doubt this will beat it
Sha Po Lang (SPL) - Maybe
Seven Swords - I seriously can't see this beating the 3 Disc HK SE, so I doubt I'll bother
Dragon Squad - Isn't the verdict this is tosh?

The Killer - The HKL is fine and a stella release for me, I'll pass. I wonder if Bey will do another commentary?
Hardboiled - I doubt they'll beat the Tartan again I'll pass
Bullet in the Head - It won't be beaten
A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2 - I'm not going to keep buying this. The IVL can be bettered. Maybe.

First of Legend - Maybe
Tai Chi Master - Yep

p.s - Can you imagine if the ABT2 HKL released in September goes head to head with the DD from Bey and Brian. How weird would that be.