A Better Tomorrow 4K UHD (1986) - WCL Limited Edition from Disk Kino

[qw0aszx]

Disk Kino is going to release John Woo's A Better Tomorrow on UHD as part of their World Cinema Library series on October 28th.



UHD Feature Disc BD-100

• Feature film presented in 2160p with new Dolby Vision / HDR10 grade
  4K restoration from original camera negatives done in 2015, with new color grading* and new HDR grade.
• Five different audio tracks
  Restored Cantonese and Mandarin tracks, both presented in original mono and remixed 5.1 formats. Exclusive Dolby Atmos track in Cantonese will also be included.

Bonus Disc BD-25

• John Woo at Fantasia Festival (HD, 141 minutes)
  The complete masterclass of John Woo held at Fantasia Festival in 2023. In English with optional Chinese subtitles.
• Archival Interview with Kent Tsang (9 minutes)
• Archival Interview with Waise Lee (9 minutes)

*Similar to the cases of Two Stage Sisters and Dragon Inn UHD from Disk Kino, a complete re-grade was done to the original restored master of A Better Tomorrow.

Full cover art:

[Show spoiler]

[tonylopez]

My 4K collection needs more Woo/Chow films.

[Rizor]

How much do these 4K WCL releases usually end up costing?

[Alexcap]

the original negative for the film are missing and nobdy knows were the are or who as them and even john woo doesn't know were they are so the original negatives must have been found.

[qw0aszx]

Originally Posted by Alexcap

the original negative for the film are missing and nobdy knows were the are or who as them and even john woo doesn't know were they are so the original negatives must have been found.

I don't think so, the 4K restoration for this film was done in 2015 and it was indeed from the negatives.
https://www.immagineritrovata.asia/web/en/video.php

[nicwood]

Wonderful that this film is coming out in 4K! Would love to buy a copy but sadly buyoyo don’t appear to be IOSS compatible. Fingers crossed the master is available for licensing for US/UK boutiques.

[themp3000]

Comes to about $91 and change for me at Buyoyo. I’m always concerned that they’ll pull subtitles off (after Plain pulled the subs off their future Cure release, I am hesitant to get hype) but with this releasing in under a month, I don’t think there’s a chance of that.

But this having the original audio is a huge win. I don’t recall with certainty if this is one of the titles locked away in hotel conglomerate purgatory so no other Eng friendly release may be offered out there and I don’t think I want to risk missing out on it…

[Ill_Be_Back]

I'm pretty certain this will be the only way we get this due to the rights of all of woos films being tangled up. Shame, i'll wait to see if subs are on this before buying.

[waxHead]

This is my first order from Buyoyo, looking forward to owning ABT on UHD

[Jompa]

According to this page here: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/A-Bet...lu-ray/358413/

It will have English subtitles.

[waxHead]

Originally Posted by Jompa

According to this page here: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/A-Bet...lu-ray/358413/

It will have English subtitles.

Also, the Buyoyo page states that it will have English subs and I found a separate reddit page saying the same.

[Jompa]

That means i will get this one.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by nicwood

Fingers crossed the master is available for licensing for US/UK boutiques.

Don't hold your breath. Even John Woo can't get the rights disentangled. It's a huge mess. The best we can hope for is releases from Hong Kong and China, and possibly Japan once in a blue moon. (The recent German releases are fan edit bootlegs, even if, to be fair, they try to have interesting properties about them.)

Anyway, I lucked out a bit and was able to max out the shipping in one of the larger bands. (I'm behind on Disk Kino releases.) It worked out to ~US$82 shipped via DHL. Not amazing but not bad, and certainly no more expensive than navigating the various services required to order directly from the mainland. Much faster too. Never say never - if the Batman TV series's home video rights could be worked out, anything's possible - but this is probably as good as it's going to get, short of maybe syncing better subs or audio (if the restored mono ends up being garbage). Hopefully the new grade will be closer to the original home video releases and will get rid of Ritrovata's piss yellow tint.

[qw0aszx]

Originally Posted by apollo828

Hopefully the new grade will be closer to the original home video releases and will get rid of Ritrovata's piss yellow tint.

Some before and after comparisions of the re-grading process for A BETTER TOMORROW, as always, not the final presentation on the disc but you can get the idea:

[The Mole]

Will the English subtitles be revised and free of spelling and grammatical errors?

[professorwho]

$695 HKD shipped... hopefully that's the most I'll ever spend on a single film, but if there was ever a release to justify it, this is one such release.

[apollo828]

Originally Posted by The Mole

Will the English subtitles be revised and free of spelling and grammatical errors?

Depends on the source, I suppose. Disk Kino releases can be hit-and-miss in this regard. I think they just work with whatever they're given by the licensor. If the film received a new translation, I'd imagine they'll use it, otherwise they'll take whatever they can. I'm not knocking them. I'm just saying English subs aren't their top priority.

[grim_tales]

What's the best place to order this from, can you get it from DDD House, Wow HD etc?
I've never ordered from Buyoyo before
$80 is a lot to spend on a single film But original soundtrack is tempting...

[logboy]

Originally Posted by grim_tales

What's the best place to order this from, can you get it from DDD House, Wow HD etc?
I've never ordered from Buyoyo before
$80 is a lot to spend on a single film But original soundtrack is tempting...

buyoyo and dddhouse are both great, i've used both for many years, but i don't know what brexit did to how orders are handled with VAT.

wowhd would likely be far more expensive as they'd be importing then exporting to you, adding a layer and cost.

[waxHead]

Originally Posted by logboy

buyoyo and dddhouse are both great, i've used both for many years, but i don't know what brexit did to how orders are handled with VAT.

wowhd would likely be far more expensive as they'd be importing then exporting to you, adding a layer and cost.

Does DDDHouse typically stock Disk Kino releases? I didn't see a pre-order for this A Better Tomorrow release on their site.