Holy Sh*t Play have killed off HKL's website! ;-)

[grim_tales]

I think The Matrix a few years before KB could have helped the popularity of Asian films too.
BTW, I was just looking for those HKL Magazine DVDs too, I can find Prison on Fire II, but not the original, did they ever release that?

[RetroRobot]

The boom took way off before Kill Bill. Contributing factors as I see it was: Jackie and Jet's popularity in the US, The Matrix leading to HK style choreo finding its way into HLWD action films, Crouching Tiger's mainstream acceptance and opening up for other Asian films, DVD as the new media on the block, Korean cinema taking off and later Thai cinema, internet making a wealth of info more accessible etc. Personally I think Kill Bill's influence was negligable... but that's just my opinion.

I got into HK cinema in the mid 80's, keeping that interest going till the mid 90's where I sort of put it away. Then got back into it around 2000 and when HKL and Celestial came on the scene, that's where things really picked up. My peception of "the boom" is that it started between 2000-2002 and continued to gain ground till about '06-'07 where it started peetering out again.

[Markgway]

BTW, I was just looking for those HKL Magazine DVDs too, I can find Prison on Fire II, but not the original, did they ever release that?

I'm sure I've seen it sold on ebay.

[Shingster]

The boom took way off before Kill Bill. Contributing factors as I see it was: Jackie and Jet's popularity in the US, The Matrix leading to HK style choreo finding its way into HLWD action films, Crouching Tiger's mainstream acceptance and opening up for other Asian films, DVD as the new media on the block, Korean cinema taking off and later Thai cinema, internet making a wealth of info more accessible etc. Personally I think Kill Bill's influence was negligable... but that's just my opinion.

That's no opinion, that's a pretty accurate summation of how it took off! I honestly have no idea what Kill Bill has to do with any of it given it didn't come out until 2003. If anything the boom was starting to wind down by that point!

The timeline is more like this (not very specific with dates as it's all mostly subjective memory)

Early-mid 90s: Stallone & Joel Silver try to bring Jackie Chan over to America to play the villain in Demolition Man, Chan refuses & the role goes to Wesley Snipes.

Mid-90s: Chan makes Rumble in the Bronx, New Line buy the international rights then re-edit the film & put on a lavish "premiere" before a pretty widespread (for a HK film in the states at the time) theatrical release. Now IIRC (from hazy memory of industry news) Stallone had a hand in this glitzy premiere by inviting all his big name "buddies" to attend, either way the premiere generated "hollywood" buzz for the film (together with New Line's marketing) and Rumble in the Bronx becomes the first bona-fide kung-fu hit for Chan in the states, kickstarting a new era of Western interest in HK martial arts.

1997-1998: Princess Mononoke comes out and Miramax give it a big US push. The film tanks at the US box office but becomes a big hit worldwide, boosting the profile of Anime across Europe and subsequently the US (thanks to the Miramax publicity campaign paying off for the DVD release).

1998: Breakout year for Jackie Chan as a Hollywood star with Rush Hour and small parts in Mulan and the infamous Alan Smithee Film. Joel Silver finally gets his HK villain in the shape of Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4 by promising him a two-picture deal (villain in LW4, lead star in his next film). Drive comes out and proves to be a cult hit on DVD/VHS.

1999: The Matrix comes out, becomes one of the biggest hits of the 90s and establishes a new wave of Hollywood action film that heavily incorporates HK-style martial arts and gunplay. In the UK HKL is founded (but I can't remember what they released in 1999, if anything).

2000: The boom hits all new highs thanks to just about every Hollywood movie having kung-fu sequences shoe-horned into them! Jet Li becomes a bonafide rival to JC in Hollywood with the success of Romeo Must Die. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon becomes the highest grossing foreign-language film of all time at the US box office (breaking the magic $100million mark). Back in the UK HKL break big with releases of early Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee films on DVD.

2001: Tartan bring Ringu and Audition to the UK, kickstarting the new J-horror boom. (Ringu had been a much-anticipated release in the west by 2001, I remember almost ordering the Thai VCD because this was the only "official" way to get hold of the film with English subs between 1999-2001! ) In Korea Shiri gets a funky R3K DVD release and becomes an instant hit among world-wide importers of Asian movies, thus commencing the Korean-cinema boom that would lead us to Oldboy and the big breakout of Korean cinema in the US.

I'd say that period from 2000-2003 was really the high point of the Asian cinema boom, covering everything from JC movies to just about everything from Japan & Korea that started to pick up

[Markgway]

Iron Monkey was also given a US theatrical release before Kill Bill.

[grim_tales]

I agree with Retro's post too

[Killer Meteor]

Yeah, that's how I remember it too. I became a fan after seeing Shanghai Noon at the cinema, then seeing Game of Death on late night TV in January 2001.

In the UK, we had Hong Kong Legends, then WAYYYYYY behind in terms of quality we had MIA, Eastern Heroes, Vengeance Video and then later the remainder of HKL's Seasonal titles ended up with Soulblade (remember them)?

I remember losing patience with HKL in 2006 with all the remixing, pinkifying, cropping, squishing etc. This is about the time the initial magic of HK cinema wore off for me, but then again I was suffering from depression at that time, so maybe just a coincidence.

For me, my fondest memory of HKL (besides the films!) are those great music promos. Some overdid it with stupid narration about "cities of corruption" and the "hearalding" of "cruel destinies", but others were perfect combinations of good editing and lovely music - not to mention the genius of making tat like The Black Sheep Affair look like The Greatest Movie Ever!

At this stage, I don't think another boom is needed in terms of quantity, but I feel a lot of potential was squandered on substandard DVDs (and now, Blu-Rays) due to poor quality control. I mean, when you think about it, there is no official home video release of Drunken Master that lets you watch the film in its OAR and original language, despite three very different DVDs.

[Killer Meteor]

The boom took way off before Kill Bill. Contributing factors as I see it was: Jackie and Jet's popularity in the US, The Matrix leading to HK style choreo finding its way into HLWD action films, Crouching Tiger's mainstream acceptance and opening up for other Asian films, DVD as the new media on the block, Korean cinema taking off and later Thai cinema, internet making a wealth of info more accessible etc. Personally I think Kill Bill's influence was negligable... but that's just my opinion.

I got into HK cinema in the mid 80's, keeping that interest going till the mid 90's where I sort of put it away. Then got back into it around 2000 and when HKL and Celestial came on the scene, that's where things really picked up. My peception of "the boom" is that it started between 2000-2002 and continued to gain ground till about '06-'07 where it started peetering out again.

I think Kill Bill prompted an interest in the old chanbara films and Shaw Brothers, whilst the boom up to that point was more Jackie, Jet, Sammo, Bruce, Donnie etc. There were a lot of chambara releases on DVD in the US and UK in 2003/2004, but delays in negociations meant that the Shaw films failed to appear in those markets to catch the boom in time (well officially, anyway).

[Markgway]

MIHK did the best homemade trailers (Moon Warriors, A Better Tomorrow II, Tiger on Beat).

[Killer Meteor]

Yeah....did Morricone ever get his royalties for that Moon Warriors trailer?

[RetroRobot]

Loooooooved those MIHK trailer reels.... nearly spooged myself the first time I saw this. It's sadly without the Moon Warriors one which was awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPVjsU1By6g

[grim_tales]

MIHK did the best homemade trailers (Moon Warriors, A Better Tomorrow II, Tiger on Beat).

Amen to that, they were great

[grim_tales]

Loooooooved those MIHK trailer reels.... nearly spooged myself the first time I saw this. It's sadly without the Moon Warriors one which was awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPVjsU1By6g

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAAlre63frM

[Markgway]

Trivia note: None of MIHK's trailers was cut by the BBFC.

[Killer Meteor]

HKL's My Lucky Stars promo trailer showed Sammo's car-jacking, which was cut by the BBFC from the actual film.

[grim_tales]

I loved MIHK's trailers, probably in spite of, or perhaps because, I wasnt always sure what was going on (and I was new to HK cinema then or any foreign films for that matter)
Some of their trailers (eg Magnificent Butcher, Police Story) were given to them by Media Asia I'm sure But the music promos of Moon Warriors, Drunken Master, Tiger on the Beat, God of Gamblers etc were awesome!

[Killer Meteor]

Yeah, Media Asia and Shaw Brothers supplied vintage trailers to MIHK.

[grim_tales]

The old Shaw Brothers trailers were great too

[luckystars]

Magnificent Butcher, Eastern Condors and Spooky Encounter had INCREDIBLE music video style menus, I did used to watch on loop lol

[Killer Meteor]

The menu for The Young Master had some great music - the cheesy trailer less so.

[grim_tales]

The first HKL trailer for Fist of Fury (Collector's Edition) had some incredible music with the haunting opening choral notes.

[Killer Meteor]

Yeah, that was really ace!

[Killer Meteor]

Speaking of awesome trailers...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39lf_hqZVvo