City on Fire 4K UHD (1987)

[Krynoid-Man]

Since they own the rights to the movie outright, is it likely the Blu-ray Disc will be region free?

[Jackie Scanlon]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Wonder if John Woo doesn't like the third film being released with his two.

Good point, although there is previous precedent on DVD for them being bundled together.

[AnimalCMan]

Originally Posted by Jackie Scanlon

I can just see me still waiting for a UK announcement this time next year and then all of the Shout releases are completely sold out and never coming back on physical and then they say "oh, we were never going to sub licence to any labels outside of the US and Canada. Did we not say that at the time? Soz."

If I import and then they appear with some UK label, rather than be angry or frustrated I will be happy with the option to double-dip should I want to.



Also, very happy to see A Better Tomorrow III getting a 4k, even if it does end up being digital only (although surely a trilogy box set physical release is a logical assumption to make). I always thought it was extremely underrated.

So a few things to note here just to ease your concerns. Shout owns the rights to these films now, meaning they won’t lose the rights due to a license expiring, I think they could only lose them now by choice. Also I wouldn’t expect any releases to go out of print unless they just aren’t selling. Digital at a bare minimum will always be available, as Shout is also controlling those releases.

Also I can pretty much guarantee you A Better Tomorrow 3 will have a physical release in a boxset with the other two. Note the digital release for those three is the same day. They’re doing that for anything in a future boxset (see the Jet Li collection which has those films sold together on digital platforms).

[Jackie Scanlon]

Originally Posted by AnimalCMan

So a few things to note here just to ease your concerns. Shout owns the rights to these films now, meaning they won’t lose the rights due to a license expiring, I think they could only lose them now by choice. Also I wouldn’t expect any releases to go out of print unless they just aren’t selling. Digital at a bare minimum will always be available, as Shout is also controlling those releases.

Also I can pretty my guarantee you A Better Tomorrow 3 will have a physical release in a boxset with the other two. Note the digital release for those three is the same day. They’re doing that for anything in a future boxset (see the Jet Li collection which has those films sold together on digital platforms).

Oh I have no doubt the digital versions will be available forever, but I'm less confident in any blus and UHDs staying around for the long-term, which is why I specified physical never coming back. I'm too long in the tooth in this game and too British to be optimistic all the time.

[AnimalCMan]

Originally Posted by Jackie Scanlon

Oh I have no doubt the digital versions will be available forever, but I'm less confident in any blus and UHDs staying around for the long-term, which is why I specified physical never coming back. I'm too long in the tooth in this game and too British to be optimistic all the time.

Well I’m very familiar with many great releases going OOP, but in my experience it’s always been because licenses expired. Sometimes they’ll renew a license later and a film may come back, but if they own them, I don’t see why they’d let one go OOP unless, as I said, it’s just not selling because obviously there is a cost to produce these they want back.

I should have also noted, despite mentioning the Jet Li set, that one could disappear as it’s licensed and not part of the Golden Princess library. Just an FYI for anyone who didn’t know.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's all about licensing rights. While they have worldwide rights to these Golden Princess titles, the vast majority of their titles are licensed (and region coded for BD) primarily for US and Canada, so they are only selling to that market. I should also point out that some UK and Australian labels including 88 Films play fast and loose with their licensing agreements, and you'll see their titles meant for a specific territory being sold in the US. Frank Tarzi from Kino talked about this, when he was asked about Kino selling titles worldwide.

Celluloid Dreams talked about this in the thread for The Case of the Bloody Iris UHD.

None of those UK (or Australian) labels that ship worldwide are supposed to be doing that, but, for some reason, licensors look the other way when the UK labels do this. Maybe if more US labels started to complain to the licensors it would change, but, the number of people that import is pretty small, so they probably don't consider it an issue right now. But, as the market continues to shrink, who knows what the future holds.

I think Shout now probably outright owns enough catalogs worldwide (or at least English speaking territories) that they could (maybe should) expand into the UK. Why they don't, I don't know.

[AnimalCMan]

Originally Posted by cooey

There are a couple of stores that sell imports (Film Treasures and Strange Vice come to mind), but they aren't particularly cheap. I often find it's easier/better just ordering from Amazon or waiting for a deal on eBay.

As long as there are some options that’s good. Sadly my friend at Shout could not offer any information about logistics or why they don’t ship internationally, but did recommended all customers outside the US order from Amazon or another retailer that ships internationally.

Hopefully there are at least some good options over there like we have from indie retailers in the US who specialize in imports. Before I discovered the ones I use now, it was starting to get very costly to import direct from places like Arrow and 88 Films, so I just stopped doing that.

[PullBackCamera]

Erm... I like City on Fire but why choose this for physical UHD release and not The Killer, Hardboiled and A Better Tomorrow?!

Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds is another one that Shout! is sitting on without a physical release (agh!).

[cooey]

Originally Posted by AnimalCMan

As long as there are some options that’s good. Sadly my friend at Shout could not offer any information about logistics or why they don’t ship internationally, but did recommended all customers outside the US order from Amazon or another retailer that ships internationally.

Hopefully there are at least some good options over there like we have from indie retailers in the US who specialize in imports. Before I discovered the ones I use now, it was starting to get very costly to import direct from places like Arrow and 88 Films, so I just stopped doing that.

Very much appreciate you asking the question

[CrimsonLegionVMCXIX]

Originally Posted by PullBackCamera

Erm... I like City of Fire but why choose this for physical UHD release and not The Killer, Hardboiled and A Better Tomorrow?!

Those will be released at a later time.

I understand why they don't want to blow their load on the John Woo stuff too early.

[WorkShed]

They may also be still in production on features

[AnimalCMan]

Originally Posted by WorkShed

They may also be still in production on features

This was my guess. City on Fire is not a title that will have rabid fans running after it like The Killer and Hard Boiled. Those two will have so many eyes on them, Shout is likely trying to get as much content as they can to add onto the discs so fans aren't disappointed. That means scheduling interviews and seeking out other docs, featurettes, etc. If that takes longer to put together than City on Fire, they'll release that first. Just makes logistical sense.

In fact, I know it was recently leaked someone interviewed Woo. So they might have been waiting on him for his films. The interviews for City on Fire were reportedly done a few months ago, according to Frank Djeng.

[captainjoe]

Originally Posted by cooey

This artwork and the branding for HKCC is so great. I’m honestly thinking I’ll be buying every release

[Radical Ed]

I'm all in. Any Woo or Lam film is instant buy.

[singhcr]

I've never seen this (how an '80s Chow film escaped my grasp is beyond me, but hey it happens) and this looks like the perfect release to jump into. Really looking forward to these releases. Hopefully they aren't DNRd to death and/or have older scans. If this turns out well, I'll just pre-order the Woo set.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I've never seen this (how an '80s Chow film escaped my grasp is beyond me, but hey it happens) and this looks like the perfect release to jump into. Really looking forward to these releases. Hopefully they aren't DNRd to death and/or have older scans. If this turns out well, I'll just pre-order the Woo set.

Brand new restorations:

Originally Posted by OldPangYau

When Shout gets to the Golden Princess titles (such as the aforementioned confirmed City On Fire and Hard Boiled), these will be brand new, never-before-seen restorations (primarily 4K, as publicly confirmed on both Fandango-At-Home and AppleTV/iTunes) from Shout themselves. No upscales, no DNR'ed-beyond-recognition video, and no "Ritrovata'd" restorations here.

[RTGFOREVER716]

I have yet to watch that much Hong Kong classic beside the some John Woo films, is this a one of the better (or maybe great) crime thrillers from that era for me to pick up in pre-order beside the obvious ones from John Woo since I don't know much about Ringo Lam or Johnnie To movies that much.

[AnimalCMan]

Originally Posted by RTGFOREVER716

I have yet to watch that much Hong Kong classic beside the some John Woo films, is this a one of the better (or maybe great) crime thrillers from that era for me to pick up in pre-order beside the obvious ones from John Woo since I don't know much about Ringo Lam or Johnnie To movies that much.

If you like John Woo, I highly recommend checking out any of Ringo Lam's Hong Kong films. Those two guys pretty much owned the crime genre there in the 80s and early 90s, until they moved to Hollywood and Johnnie To took the top spot in Hong Kong (I also highly recommend his films if you haven't seen any).

City on Fire is not my favorite Ringo Lam movie, but it is widely considered one of his best (and a major inspiration for Reservoir Dogs) and is in my top five from him. The others I'd recommend should also be coming from Shout as I believe these were also Golden Princess titles.

Full Contact
Prison on Fire 1 & 2
School on Fire

Also two great ones available in the UK currently are Wild Search and Full Alert (no idea when they might get a US release).

If you're mostly just familiar with Woo, I will say, Lam's films tend to be more character driven and with less emphasis on action set pieces. I think he feels like a bit of a mix between Michael Mann and Sam Peckinpah.

Full Contact is probably his closest to feeling like Woo movie with some great action and a plot that clearly feels inspired by Richard Stark's The Hunter (adapted into the films Point Blank and Payback).

And if you do venture into Johnnie To territory, his films definitely have more in common with Lam, but he's much more varied in his output, some of his films can feel downright whimsical and inspired by European cinema, despite being crime dramas. Others aren't even crime films, but still great (check out Throw Down!).

[PullBackCamera]

It's going to be fun revisiting these British classics.

[RTGFOREVER716]

Thanks for your response.
Although as you said they're more character driven, that still falls into my type of films as well since I've seen a few from both Michael Mann and Peckinpah (Heat, Insider, ..... are all so good)
I guess my wallet's gonna get busy picking which title to buy now since there might just be too much.
Right now it's probably set on the John Woo films and some Ringo Lam films (City & Prison on fire, Full Contact). I'll probably pick up other titles down the line.