Fox: "Hong Kong Legends" line in June (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Mirza]

Fox Home Entertainment has announced the first wave of their "Hong Kong Legends" DVD line.

Streeting on July 22nd are Naked Killer, Magnificent Butcher (directed by Yuen Woo-ping), Michelle Yeoh in Magnificent Warriors, Hong Kong 1941 starring Chow Yun-Fat, and Jackie Chan in City Hunter. All titles come with digitally remastered widescreen transfers (no mention of anamorphic), English and Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks, English & Chinese subtitles, still galleries, promotional materials, production notes, new & original trailers, and cross-promotional trailers to the other titles in the collection.

Magnificent Butcher also comes with an “Amazing Sammo” music video, Magnificent Warriors includes an interview with Michelle Yeoh, and City Hunter has outtakes, an interview with Jackie Chan, and a music video. Retail is $14.98 per title.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Are these licensed from THE Hong Kong Legends?

If so, listen to my girly squeal!!

And of course, UNLIKE SOME OTHER STUDIOS WHICH WE HATES TO THE "MAX", THESE ARE UNBUTCHERED AND OSL!

Yay Fox!

 

[ChrisJefferys]

Rumors in another forum say that these are licenced from Hong Kong legends but are missing the commentary tracks (notice that such tracks aren't mentioned in the above description). Geez, two steps forward, one step back. :frowning:

 

[Jeff Kleist]

One step at a time Chris. At least they are unbutchered, and if they're from HKL that means the transfer and subtitles will be top-notch.

 

[ChrisJefferys]

One step at a time Chris. At least they are unbutchered, and if they're from HKL that means the transfer and subtitles will be top-notch.

Yes Jeff that's true (have to think positive ) . This will still represent the best treatment of HK films in North America so far (especially compared to Miramax/Dimension and New Line!). I was thinking of picking up a few of those titles from the UK but now I'll just wait and see how these new ones will be.

I'm kinda surprised that some of the HKL Bruce Lee DVDs aren't in this first batch, considering that Fox distributes those particular films here in the first place.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm betting that they're going to have some kind of BruceBox full of HKL goodness

 

[Ian_H]

My girly squeal is right there with you Jeff! My only complaint is that these are just upgrades for me. I have seen all these films countless times since I have owned the Hong Kong releases. It would be nice to get some great films released that I don't already have on DVD. I still have a ton of HK tapes and LDs. Where is Tsui Hark's Blade? Why hasn't that been released on DVD? Oh well. BTW dvdplanet.com has cover scans for the Fox titles.

--Ian

 

[Chris Xolotl]

Holy Crap. I almost forgot about the FOX connection and Bruce Lee. Could be a winner. But again, they might only have the rights to certain HKL titles because of licensing and stuff. I note the ones they are releasing aren't necessarily on the "most wanted" list.

No Bey is a disappointment, but I already have all the HKLs released I want so far (sans Bichunmoo).

 

[JohnS]

If these are going to be the top notch uncut anamorphic quality DVD's, then I will purchase these sight unseen, just to show my support.

 

[Matthew Brown]

A few things to keep in mind just so that there are no surprises.

HKL is a wonderful company and their releases are generally the best the movies will ever look on DVD but here are some things for the more picky of us.

The HKL movies do not have the original mono soundtracks. The 5.1 remixes are generally subtle enough to appease those who find this to be an issue.

MAGNIFICENT BUTHER had mastering problems. The image is slightly stretched vertically. If FOX is using the same master than it will also have this problem. I believe this flaw can be corrected if your player has x-y scaling. HKL for some reason has issues with movies shot in scope.

MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS may be a slightly different aspect ratio than the original. I believe the master was taken from a 16 mm print instead of a 35mm one.

HKL normally crops about 2% is the image to hide damage to the film.

I know these are nitpicky things but the second these are released there will be posts regearding that these aren't the proper aspect ratio and so forth.

The commentaries are excellent and I hope that Fox rethinks including them.




Matt

 

[Todd Hostettler]

(Crosses fingers and cleses eyes)

Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.
Pedicab Driver...please.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I wonder if they will be using the PAL transfers or if they have HD masters to work with. If they don't use the PAL transfers then the commentary tracks wouldn't be in sync anyway.

I just watched HKL's The Big Boss which was fantastic! The English dub track is awful though....really, really bad.

Jeff

 

[TheLongshot]

I wonder if they will be using the PAL transfers or if they have HD masters to work with. If they don't use the PAL transfers then the commentary tracks wouldn't be in sync anyway.

Good point. There might need to be some creative editing needed to get the times matched up.

I'd be interested to see what exactly Fox has gotten the rights to, since a good piece of HKL's library is owned by other studios in the states. (most of the Jet Li and Jackie Chan films)

Nice thing is, it looks like the older HKL films have been lowered to 9.99 pounds (about $15). Probably need to pick up some more soon...

Jason

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

I just spent a buttload on HKL imports.

Anyone want an R2 Naked Killer?

 

[Patrick Mirza]

My mistake: all are due on JULY 22nd. Sorry about the typo.

 

[ChrisJefferys]

I'd be interested to see what exactly Fox has gotten the rights to, since a good piece of HKL's library is owned by other studios in the states. (most of the Jet Li and Jackie Chan films)

Yeah, unfortunately we won't get the HKL versions of Project A and The Killer, for example, thanks to Miramax. :frowning:

But at least I can look forward to picking up two of my "guilty pleaures" (City Hunter and Naked Killer)

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Matthew, that UK HKL NAKED KILLER has a cool commentary that mightn't be on the Fox release. Why sell it?

Anyhow - if both the UK and US releases are uncut, there shouldn't need to be any 'creative editing' at all to fit the commentary track onto each US disc. All Fox needs to do is to get the audio track of each commentary and (a.) slow it down by 4% to match the new frame-rate of the US disc, and (b.) raise the pitch of the track 4% to match what what originally recorded. It should sync up perfectly. I agree though that if the UK release was cut, there could be different issues involved - but Bey Logan reportedly records his tracks to the uncut versions of each film anyway.

EASTERN CONDORS (which was cut in the UK by something like 20 seconds) was mentioned as a future Fox title. If they bring it out uncut with the nifty HKL transfer it'll be definitive enough for me to grab it. I don't have the UK release of this one yet.

Anyway, I hope the series does well in the States, and continues to do well in the UK. Hopefully HKL are getting a good deal for the use of their transfers, which should help them continue their acquisitions and efforts in the UK.

 

[Matthew Brown]

I wish they could get THE KILLER and POLICE STORY.
I hope Fox does well with these.


Matt

 

[Matthew_Millheiser]

The commentary on Naked Killer is OK but not worth a second listen. With the amount of jack I put out for it, I probably should have waited. That having been said, it looks and sounds very nice. I guess I paid extra for having it early, kind of like what I did with Kurosawa's Yume...

 

[Michael_Yang]

NO Bey Logan's Commentary.

What a pity!

Any other features less than HKL Version ?

I found Animated Biography(HKL Good Feature) not to be mentioned in Fox announcement. :frowning: