http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_030730martial.html

And "Hero," Zhang Yimou's highly anticipated martial arts historic epic -- the most likely to follow in "Crouching Tiger"'s footsteps -- won't get released in the U.S. until next year, according to Miramax.

Morons. Utter morons. How did these guys get become so successful?

Get the R0 DVD and be happy, my friends. I got a smile on my face, and it ain't just from the good, sweet pie.

the thing is.. Mirmax has pretty much done a contra ban on import sellers for this film. so you'll have to do some side work to get it across the ocean.

Man even the extended director's version w/ DTS ES soundtrack was available for pre-order a few months back at Yesasia.com, but all of a sudden all traces of Hero were erase. Damn Miramax, damn them to hell. Good thing I got a regular version already.

I'll just enjoy the R3 2-disc set until then. The DTS-ES track on there is sick. I'm glad I've got the R0 Shaolin Soccer too. It sounds like Miram"axe" did a number on that one.

THAT has been postponed at least 3-4 times already - it was originally supposed to open in the U.S. almost a year and a half ago! It was shown earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival.

I just bought the dc of shoulin soccer, was the original version in hong kong the "miramaxe" cut, or did miramaxe cut even more from the original version?

while we're at it, here are the shoulin soccer (aka now kung fu soccer) cuts
Some of the changes to "Shaolin Soccer" found in the new Miramax U.S. cut:
The film has been shortened from 102 minutes to just over 80
The opening titles have been deleted. Replaced by main title over generic "Asian" background.
The opening B&W bribery scene between Golden Leg and Hung has been deleted.
A musical sequence with Sing and the gang outside of Mui's sweet roll shop has been reinstated.
Dialog has been removed between Sing and Iron Head during the club scenes.
Also gone are some of the bottle-to-head smashes on Iron Head.
The vomit and fart gags have been deleted from Sing's first soccer attack in the streets.
All the initial meetings with the Brothers have been shortened.
The film is dubbed into English, thus not allowing time for the true translation of the screenplay. Dialog is often without the meaning the original version contained.
Sing's apartment scene is deleted.
Amazingly, the bizarre "egg" joke with Little Brother during soccer training remains in the Miramax cut.
Golf course scene between Hung and Golden Leg has been cut out.
The final soccer match has a variety of cuts in it, mostly to take out the more extreme visuals featuring blood and violence.
A cover version of "Kung Fu Fighting" is used over the last scene of the film and the end credits, removing the score entirely.

I'll find a copy on Ebay somewhere..*Shrugs*

if your looking for hero, make sure it has this cover
for region 0
for shoulin soccer
look for

since there are lots of boots out there, these are the only two you should look for.

did you check Poker Industries I got my deluxe boxset signed by the director there & they had tons of them.

The movie is a masterpiece, IMO better than CTHD & I loved that movie. But are there really people that want to see this movie & don't own it yet. Almost everyone I know has it.

I rented the R0 edition. So i'm good. Great flick though.

That sucks... I missed it for sale at Poker... :/ It's not for sale anymore. I have the regular version, but not the extended.

This is a reason why I get all my stuff overseas, I'll be damned if ill be held hostage by a studio as to when i can see a movie.

The edited version of Shaolin Soccer by Miramax sounds like an entirely different movie. While I was able to get the R0 version in my local Chinatown, my copy had trouble playing on my stand-alone dvd players, but thankfully the dvd-rom had no problems. I never thought the evils of Miramax would affect Chinatown, but Shaolin Soccer is almost no where to be found in any of the dvd stores around here.

Now how will i see these movies?

Miramax is dumb, the more they delay these movies the more people that wanted to see them will find other means. If Hero came out last year, I would have watched it in the theater, but now I have it on DVD and have seen it a few times. Not only did they lose business, they lost a better chance at winning the foreign film oscar. I know the main reason it didn't have a chance at winning was because Miramax didn't give voters any possible way to screen them. I'm not saying it would have won, but it would have at least the fighting chance. It should also get some recognition for cinematography. As for Shaolin Soccer, I wouldnt have watched it in theaters anyway because of the way they hack and dub it. But I know many that would have if it came out earlier, but instead they just borrowed my DVD.

Miramax are a bunch of idiots. I'm so glad that there are other ways to get DVDs of the films they apparently don't want us to see (but they can afford to buy a film and just sit on it).

Yeah, I can't wait anymore, I just bought me a copy off ebay.

Ditto, I did the same thing last nite.

Mirmaxe has been attacking Etailors and forcing them to pull the R0 hero from there site, I have it on VCD and I am paitently waiting for the now Mythical Director's Cut of the film to appear. But seeing how it probably won't ever be released I'll end up getting the R3 version as it is the best version to get.

Feck off Miramaxe

Also You can get the R0 Shaolin Soccer for like $7 direct from Universe's site. www.U333.com

found this in the international forum about shaolin soccer

"Miramax Changes Tune on 'Shaolin Soccer'
by Mark Pollard

08.04.2003 - A representative of Miramax has just confirmed that their planned wide release of an edited version of the martial arts comedy Shaolin Soccer has been cancelled. In its place, the company will put into limited release, the original Cantonese language version with subtitles. This decision comes after a test screening of Miramax's dubbed version in Calgary, Canada apparently flopped.

Miramax originally purchased U.S. distribution rights to the Hong Kong blockbuster hit not long after its release in 2001. Since then, the company has sat on the film while applying numerous edits in an attempt to market the comedy to Western audiences. Original changes included renaming the film Kung Fu Soccer (this change was never finalized), re-dubbing the film into English, cutting at least 20 minutes, adding one previously cut scene, and adding new music to the soundtrack. These changes, according to a Miramax spokeswoman, were fully supported by the film's writer, director, and star Stephen Chow who even dubbed his own voice into English.

In the last year, a vocal group of Asian film fans on the internet have increasingly voiced their disapproval of 'MiramAXE,' as they have dubbed the company and their parent entity Disney, over the editing they have performed on previously released films such as Iron Monkey and The Legend of Drunken Master (AKA Drunken Master II). Though both films, which were originally released in the mid-'90s, bore moderate success at the box office, the topic of debate rages over the integrity of the original works and how they are presented to general audiences. It now looks like general audiences will be the real losers of this contest. A limited arthouse release with little advertising dollars spent will make it all the more difficult for the successes this film has had in Asia to be repeated in the U.S.

For the newly planned release of Shaolin Soccer, Miramax is expected to edit out only minor footage in order to maintain a PG-13 rating. The release date is now set for September 5th.


can't they put the subtitled version in wide release? Crouching Tiger was subtitled and made over 120 million dollars, so listen up disney "you can release a forgien movie with subtitles over 100 min and make millions in profit if you market it right, and it gets good reviews"

I wish. Although I bought the DVD a year ago, I would love to see the film in its original non butchered form in a theatre. Miramax/Disney just doesn't get it.

[obligatory]Miramax is dumb and evil.[/obligatory]

Thank you, now back to your regularly scheduled program.