Could UK labels open branches in Asia to release Golden Princess/Cinema City movies?

[The Mole]

As many HK cinema fans know by now, the international rights for the entire Golden Princess/Cinema City catalouge are in rights limbo because Fortune Star/Star TV only bought the rights for Asia when Golden Princess closed shop and was later sold to Kowloon Invenstment.

That is why none of their classic HK movies (including all the great John Woo titles) cannot be released legally outside of Asia (don't fall for the lies told to you by German or Spanish bootleggers!).

Frank Djeng explains the situation in this video:

The REAL Reason why John Woo's Hard Boiled & The Killer won't ever be released on 4K! - YouTube

Now, on German forum movieside.de a user had an idea which I found really interesting.

Since it is still possible to release these movies in Asia and Fortune Star obviously also is willing to sub-licence them for this purpose (e. g. to Nova Time in Korea or other labels in Japan):

Would it be possible for UK (or US) boutique labels like 88 Films, Eureka or Arrow to open branches in Asia, then sub-licence those titles from Foprtune Star for a specific territory there and release them officially and legally in an English-friendly version (afaik Nova Time's releases in Korea also contain English subtitles, so that should not be a problem) with the same care and attention they give their releases in the UK and the US, which us international fans can then import from there?

88, Eureka and Arrow have all expanded to the US marked already, so they are well versed in working overseas and handling international rights and distribution. So why not do the same for some Asian marked, indirectly "free" all those classic HK movies from only being available to companies releasing them with louse upscales, shabby subtitles and awful upmix audio and profit from the demand of the international fan community?

If US and European fans could by those titles in propper HD with original audio and properly translated subtitles, I bet they would sell really well.

[drush9999]

Best hope is for proper 2K or 4K scans to get licenced within HK or South Korea. A Better Tomorrow & Hard Boiled for example did. The only issue is you get a crappy 6.1 remix and not original audio, and crappy subs.

[RossyG]

Why don’t Asian labels open UK branches?

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Best hope is for proper 2K or 4K scans to get licenced within HK or South Korea. A Better Tomorrow & Hard Boiled for example did. The only issue is you get a crappy 6.1 remix and not original audio, and crappy subs.

Yeah, that is the problems. The Asian labels don't care and put as little effort into the reeleases as possible or make them only Chinese-/Japanese-/-Korean-friendly with less effort put into proper English translations or English-friendly bonus materials.

If Asian labels were as devoted to releasing the best possible product as US and European boutique labels are, I would not make such a suggestion.

[themp3000]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Best hope is for proper 2K or 4K scans to get licenced within HK or South Korea. A Better Tomorrow & Hard Boiled for example did. The only issue is you get a crappy 6.1 remix and not original audio, and crappy subs.

The crappy audio remixes would make any good release a nonstarter. Thats why I refuse to buy the HK or any with those ugly audio options. That’s what makes the varied DVDs and the German blu-rays my “go to” for the masterpiece Woo films.

[stigdu]

For a second, I thought the title said 'ASDA' and I thought to myself "no ****ing way."

[logboy]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Why don’t Asian labels open UK branches?

asia? that's quite general. here's the general answer : these industries are self-supporting, and have little interest or inclination in working at that scale or in other territories. anything that has released in the past, or releases now, should always be consider the exception.

the fantasies about boutique labels are unhealthy and unrealistic.

[side__on]

Not having the og mono for the Woo films ruins the experience for me.

[IDidItForTheGold]

Originally Posted by logboy

asia? that's quite general.

No, it isn't.

In fact, as far as Fortune Star's licencing rights are concerned, it is very, very specific. Here's a list of countries where you can get the rights to Golden Princess titles directly for from Fortune Star:

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Commonwealth of Independent States, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam

[logboy]

Originally Posted by IDidItForTheGold

No, it isn't.

what's the retail model in each country, and what's the market like as far as it's varying appetites for export, or focus on domestic outlets such as rental / video on demand and so on?

japan alone has oddities to how it works. DVD still seems very viable. rental is very popular. sell through is minimal, expensive. print runs are very small. sale or return doesn't exist.

they'll all be different, these countries.