Why most asian martial art blu-ray is releasing in Europe but not in the U.S.?

[mugupo]

Titles such as protector, hero, fist of legend, ong-bak, ong-bak 2, all this are among the best martial art film. But why U.S. isn't getting this release on blu-ray? while Europe has them?

[richieb1971]

Distribution rights are bought by different companies in different territories. The US obviously doesn't feel the need to buy them up. In some circumstances the rights are already in the hands of US distributors but they just don't want to release such titles at this time.

Moan at Miramax for Hero, don't know who owns the others.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by mugupo

Titles such as protector, hero, fist of legend, ong-bak, ong-bak 2, all this are among the best martial art film. But why U.S. isn't getting this release on blu-ray? while Europe has them?

The Protector - Dragon Dynasty/Weinstein Company, originally titled Tom Young Goong. The US version is cut and has a horrible dub error. Tony Jaa speaks Thai for a large portion of the film then speaks English for the final act. When did he learn English?

Hero - Miramax rights reverted to Weinstein Company to be relesed under Dragon Dynasty, again cut US version.

Ong Bak - Fox, bought by Luc Besson and not only cut in the US but rescored compeletely. Fox only has the rights to Besson's version and did not license the original Thai release.

Ong Bak 2 - Weinstein Company.

Here is the thing...

The Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty group would have to handle the remastering of these film in high-definition since the original Asian distributors are not fast tracking Blu-ray releases like the US. That is a a big financial risk especially if the titles sell far fewer copies than expected.

The same goes for Fox who would have to handle remastering duties for Besson's Europacorp.

Considering that many Blu-ray owners are enhusiasts and want the movies as originally presented, Fox and Weinstein are not going to be making a lot of money with BD releases. Their finanical interests are best served placing titles on hold for BD at this time.