marty888

In connection with the New York Film Festival, there will be screening of several Shaw Brothers movies at the Walter Reade Theater (Lincoln Center) from October 2-13. These are the newly-restored prints being made available by Celestial, who have been releasing these gems on DVD (R3 only .... so far).

Complete Schedule here:

http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/nyfffilm2004shaw.htm

Rypro 525

why can't they release those in region 1 or region 0?

marty888

I have no idea - maybe a rights issue? It's really a shame, because this is an incredible catalogue that covers all genres, and they have been lovingly restored. The quality of the R3 releases is amazing - and it's one of the reasons I finally went region-free last year.

chente

Yes, the R3's are great. I went Region-free about 3 months back for a grand total of $85 (Toshiba 4900). Ordering these movies is cheap and easy too. Head over to the International forum if you want more info.

FantasticVSDoom

Thanks for the heads up on this...I will definitly try to check some of this out...

harosa

I know this wil make some people howl but i did read that Miramax has the region 1 rights to the new catalog

marty888

Miramax and Celestial Reach Agreement for US Video Distribution, VOD, and Remakes of Shaw Brothers Films


NEW YORK, April 4 /PRNewswire/ --

Miramax Films and Celestial Pictures, of Hong Kong, have reached a long-term agreement under which Miramax has licensed the video distribution rights to 50 titles from the famous Shaw Brothers' library, video-on-demand rights to the entire Celestial Shaw library, and the English-language remake rights for two films, it was announced today by Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein and Celestial Pictures CEO William Pfeiffer.

The Celestial Shaw Brothers library encompasses approximately 760 films, including many classics of Hong Kong cinema such as Come Drink With Me, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and The One-Armed Swordsman. Many of the world's most famous Chinese actors and directors worked at Shaw and the library represents the legacy of legendary impresario Sir Run Run Shaw. Under the agreement, Miramax will select 50 of the Shaw titles for video distribution in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The VOD portion of the agreement for the entire library is for North America.

"We're especially proud of this agreement, because despite the Shaw Brothers producing the world's biggest and best Chinese film library, most of these great movies have not been available on home video and DVD," said Harvey Weinstein. "I am proud that Celestial has entrusted Miramax to bring these fantastic films to their fans, and especially to broader new audiences."

devilshalo

Oddly enough, Miramax still isn't listed as a distributor on the Celestial website. The first wave of titles were rumored to be out sometime in Novemeber IIRC.

Ky-Fi

Yep, these are the reason I went region-free last year, and it was so worth it----these restored titles look awesome. I would advise people who are really interested to just get a region free player and not wait for the region 1's----if Miramax only has the rights to 50 titles, they're going to be leaving out a lot of great movies.

Here's the release schedule for this year:

http://www.asiandvdguide.com/shaw_brothers.html

FantasticVSDoom

As I mentioned earlier, I am definitely going to check some of these out. Any suggestions on which ones I should see? I cant go to all of them, and I would just like some opinions on which ones are a shouldnt miss. I have to admit, Im not as familiar with all their stuff, but Im very excited about going to watch some of these movies. So any suggestions would be great.

marty888

Just a bump since tickets are now on sale for these NYC screenings.

Linn1

first off, here's what to see:

If you're interested in the drama or opera films, check out
THE LOVE ETERNE,THE KINGDOM AND THE BEAUTY, HONG KONG NOCTURNE, and THE HOUSE OF 72 TENANTS.

If you just want action watch these (in this order, if you can):
BLOOD BROTHERS
HEROES TWO
CLANS OF INTRIGUE A.K.A. KILLER CLANS-And it's NOT Killer Clans. That's a different film entirely!
INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN

Now then,as for Merryaxe getting the rights. They only got films from the first years Hong Kong releases, so they got very little. And they missed a LOT of good films in the deal. They have the right to ask for more, but ONLY if another US company doesn't buy the rights to them first, which I know at least two that are working on doing just that now. Merryaxe refused to sign an agreement not to cut the films, as they plan on putting them up for new ratings and if a film doesn't get the rating they want, they may cut it. Also, as of two months ago, they didn't have the original English dub tracks, so there's a chance that when these come out, they may be re-dubbed from what everyone knows.

devilshalo

Ack? They couldn't get the old dubs? Poor Larry Bensky.

Linn1

Not "couldn't," Merryaxe didn't want to pay extra for the tracks. They were offered and Celestial was pretty surprised they didn't take them, as that was partly the selling point in the US anyway. If they truly do their own dubs for the films, they'll be making a HUGE mistake.