Weinsteins' Asian DVD Brand - Bey Logan & Brian White

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 27 Apr 2006, 22:59

Hey,

ok, some of you might wonder whether this is a good idea due to the Weinsteins' history of treating Asian films.

However...

...guess who will be responsible for their new DVD brand, though. No others than Brian White and Bey Logan. As you might remember, Brian White was the Brand Manager and DVD Producer at HKL and PA, but resigned in November 2005. Ever since then, he has been building up the new label with Bey. Well, Brian is now the "Director of Asian Brand Management and Post Production". (What a cool title!

)

I don't know too much, but what I have heard about the DVDs' general specs, confirms that we can all start looking forward to some great new DVD releases.

I'll keep you all updated as soon as I get more inside details on the specs.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 27 Apr 2006, 23:17

I'll keep my excitement under wraps for now... 8)

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Apr 2006, 05:56

Like Mark, I'll only start getting excited once there is an uncut Drunken Master 2 with the original soundtrack and language in my DVD player.
Same thing goes for Fist of Legend and all the other classics.
I wouldnt be surprised if Brian White tries that whole re-scoring shit again.

Plus we all know Bey isnt really like 'us' , as he thinks it's perfectly fine to cut and trim a movie for certain audiences.

btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 28 Apr 2006, 11:42

Yi-Long wrote:Like Mark, I'll only start getting excited once there is an uncut Drunken Master 2 with the original soundtrack and language in my DVD player.
Same thing goes for Fist of Legend and all the other classics.

Don't Di$ney own the rights to all those? I don't remember hearing anything about the Weinsteins taking the Miramax and Dimension film library with them when they left the Mouse House.

Di$ney will probably just sit on those titles and not do anything with them. I doubt that the English-speaking world will ever see the uncut versions of those films in their original language. Meanwhile the French are laughing at us with their uncut releases (No offense Tom, but it's not like you try to surpress your gloating).

btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)

Is mainstream Dutch culture less close-minded then? You guys are very multi-lingual afterall.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Apr 2006, 12:34

EvaUnit02 wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:Like Mark, I'll only start getting excited once there is an uncut Drunken Master 2 with the original soundtrack and language in my DVD player.
Same thing goes for Fist of Legend and all the other classics.
Don't Di$ney own the rights to all those? I don't remember hearing anything about the Weinsteins taking the Miramax and Dimension film library with them when they left the Mouse House.

Di$ney will probably just sit on those titles and not do anything with them. I doubt that the English-speaking world will ever see the uncut versions of those films in their original language. Meanwhile the French are laughing at us with their uncut releases (No offense Tom, but it's not like you try to surpress your gloating).

Well... he has a right to gloat, as far as I'm concerned. It means the french DVD-producers treat THEIR audience with more respect then the American producers, by actually giving them what they want (movies in their original form)
I'd be gloating too if I were Tom. So would anyone else when they're very happy with some good buys.

btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)
Is mainstream Dutch culture less close-minded then? You guys are very multi-lingual afterall.

[/quote]

I dont think the Dutch are very open-minded. They pretend to be though, with their views on drugs and cheating and sex etc... but they're close-minded in being always wanting to be 'open-minded', as in they would rather try something new and stupid, rather then logically think it over and objectively judge if its a good idea or not.
Plus racisme is pretty bad right now in holland, with lots of people being prejudiced, so no... I wouldnt call the Dutch open-minded.

I dont know why they didnt complain... I guess I just expected them to be mature about it, and they did. If someone had asked if there was an option for it to be played in English, I would have said yes,but I certainly wouldnt have turned it on.
A friend at school borrowed Fist of Fury after the presentation, and returned it today. I asked him if he watched it in English or Canto, and he also just watched it in Canto. (with Dutch subs)

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 28 Apr 2006, 13:33

Yi-Long wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Brian White tries that whole re-scoring shit again.

Most people are still missing one fact when saying that and trying to support their statement by accusing Premier Asia of not respecting the director's vision. Prachya Pinkaew, the director of "Ong-Bak" personally gave Brian White permission to re-score the film and that he was delighted with the result.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Apr 2006, 13:49

thelostdragon wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Brian White tries that whole re-scoring shit again.
Most people are still missing one fact when saying that and trying to support their statement by accusing Premier Asia of not respecting the director's vision. Prachya Pinkaew, the director of "Ong-Bak" personally gave Brian White permission to re-score the film and that he was delighted with the result.

So... does PP tell him it's ok so he could sell his movie, or because he was unsatisfied with the original score and loved Brian White's musical abilities.

Sadly, many asian producers/directors dont really seem to care about what happens with their movies in other territories, as long as they can sell it.
Of the directors, I only know about Miyazaki who INSISTS that there will be no changes made AT ALL to any of his movies, when companies approach him to buy the rights. It's a shame not more directors/producers insist on keeping their movies intact.

And just because PP gave Brian White permission, doesnt mean that makes it OK to change aspects of a movie, and not provide the original version (which PA easily could have done) alongside it, so we would at least have a choice.

Anyway, dont wanna bring up the whole Ong-bak thing again. I have a bootleg version as well as 2 legit versions, so I'm OK.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 28 Apr 2006, 13:52

thelostdragon wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if Brian White tries that whole re-scoring shit again.
Most people are still missing one fact when saying that and trying to support their statement by accusing Premier Asia of not respecting the director's vision. Prachya Pinkaew, the director of "Ong-Bak" personally gave Brian White permission to re-score the film and that he was delighted with the result.

I thought the OB new score was fine (lets not start this shit again)

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 28 Apr 2006, 14:27

btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)

Yi long I wonder what would have happened if there was a Dutch dub ?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Apr 2006, 14:30

sky75 wrote:
btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)

Yi long I wonder what would have happened if there was a Dutch dub ?

The Dutch don't dub movies and TV series, only cartoons (sadly), so I doubt anyone would have liked to see a foreign movie with bad dutch voiceacting.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2006, 14:37

Yi-Long wrote:btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)

Hey, I would've complained about it not being in Mandarin!

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Apr 2006, 14:45

Markgway wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:btw: I showed a clip of Fist of Fury today in class, and played it in cantonese with Dutch subs: NO-BODY complained or even made a comment about the movie not being in english!
(Not that I would have changed to the english dub otherwise)
Hey, I would've complained about it not being in Mandarin!

I would have laughed my ass off if someone in my class would have pointed that out

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2006, 14:47

Yi-Long wrote:I would have laughed my ass off if someone in my class would have pointed that out

...and thought of me.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 28 Apr 2006, 15:00

I'm not overly excited about this either, not a huge fan of the Weinsteins.

Not sure how much influence Brian White had on the PA label but I don't really like Premier Asia.

I'm prepared to be surprised though... we'll see what happens.

Killer Meteor · Post by **Killer Meteor** » 28 Apr 2006, 16:18

"Hey, I would've complained about it not being in Mandarin"

For the record, I prefer the Cantonese version. The quality of the voice cast is superior - or maybe familarity with the Cantonese made the Mandarin seem inferior. I'm not impressed with the majority of Mandarin dubs from the 70's - heck the English versions are better in some cases!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Apr 2006, 17:19

When something is show to us then we can talk about this venture from Bey and White, so far its going to take a miracle for Weinstin to change his view of asian films thats for sure, they can be advised all they like, he is know for doing exactly what "HE" wants with "HIS" films.

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 28 Apr 2006, 18:18

hey,

just think, if Harvey were to release what he calls one of his favourite films, A Touch Of Zen, on dvd...

saltysam · Post by **saltysam** » 28 Apr 2006, 18:18

what are they releasing,maybe some shaw movies?

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Apr 2006, 20:38

Cut Shaw movies

with added Mickey Mouse dubbing.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Apr 2006, 20:53

Knetan wrote:hey,

just think, if Harvey were to release what he calls one of his favourite films, A Touch Of Zen, on dvd...

He'd probably re-name it: A Blast of Zen-Fu!

As I said, I'm not holding my breath yet. The guy is a fucking braindead moron, so I doubt he'd change his ways.

Gawd, I'd like to make a movie of my own, make it so very very good so it will win a fucking oscar (Tom and Romero would probably not like it though...), just so I can get an opportunity to make an acceptance speach, and I would just totally rip into that fat guy for him being such a worthless ugly bastard.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 28 Apr 2006, 21:17

People have tried to rip into the fat one, but it always goes wrong and they end up working with him years later

he is too powerful and owns too much of Holywood to not get his way, every time. Maybe we are just being negative on his past crimes against films, maybe he has turned over a new dougnut.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 28 Apr 2006, 22:40

saltysam wrote:what are they releasing,maybe some shaw movies?

Disney retained the Shaw Bros film rights.

Fat Harv has the remake rights only.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 29 Apr 2006, 00:21

Here are some general specs of what the new DVDs will be like:

- original and English language soundtracks
- re-mastered subtitles
- H.D. sourced 16:9 anamorphic transfers
- audio commentary tracks from Bey and a line-up of celebrity guest stars
- loads of cool extras (which are currently being put together)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 29 Apr 2006, 00:44

Big Harv also puts restrictions on established filmmakers when he's producing their films.

Eg The reason why Terry Gilliam's Brothers Grimm sucks is cuz Weinstein had him on a short leash. Honestly, who doesn't know that Gilliam is a mad genius auteur and should be left range? What a big dumb arse he is. Brothers Grimm bombed cuz word of month quickly spread that it was shit. Weinstein shot himself in the foot by holding back Gilliam and I doubt that he has learnt his lesson either.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 29 Apr 2006, 07:47

thelostdragon wrote:Here are some general specs of what the new DVDs will be like:

- original and English language soundtracks
- re-mastered subtitles
- H.D. sourced 16:9 anamorphic transfers
- audio commentary tracks from Bey and a line-up of celebrity guest stars
- loads of cool extras (which are currently being put together)

How come you know so much, LD? And since you do, do you know if the movies will be cut in any way, shape or form!?
cause it all sounds nice, but if it still means the movies will be 10-20 minutes shorter then the original, I still wont be buying them.

Give us your sources. Who's deepthroat!?