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If it wasn’t bad enough for my wallet, Variety has announced the blockbuster acquisition of the famed and iconic Golden Princess label of Hong Kong action classics including several from action maestro John Woo and the one and only Jackie Chan. If you’re not familiar with the Golden Princess filmography, then you probably shouldn’t be following an action cinema website as it is the company that was responsible for several iconic and now hard to find Hong Kong action epics like John Woo’s The Killer and Hard Boiled as well multiple titles including the films of Tsui Hark. The deal was announced today, and action disciples everywhere lost their collective shit all at the same time. I was at work of course when I heard all about it.
Variety reported a long list of hard to acquire titles including “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” the complete “Better Tomorrow” trilogy, “Bullet in the Head” and “Once a Thief.” The library also boasts Ringo Lam’s “City on Fire,” “Prison on Fire” and its sequel; Eric Tsang’s “Aces Go Places”; Tsui’s “Peking Opera Blues”; Tony Ching’s “Chinese Ghost Story” trilogy; and additional hits like Wai Ka-fai’s “Peace Hotel,” Andrew Kam and Johnnie To’s “The Big Heat” and Alex Law’s “Now You See It, Now You Don’t.” (Per Variety)
The blockbuster deal was brokered by Shout! Studios’ David McIntosh, Jordan Fields and Taylor Devorsky. Representing Golden Princess included Dickson Lai and Ronald Chu. Needless to say, Shout has some hefty plans for these films including remastered home video collector’s editions as well as theatrical re-releases for select movies. Oh yeah, get those wallets out soon because a wave is coming.
“This is a big one,” stated Shout’s Fields, who serves as the senior VP of acquisitions and originals. “Golden Princess sits alongside Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest in the pantheon of Hong Kong cinema, but unlike the other two, the Golden Princess library has been dormant for decades outside of Asia. Its fingerprints are all over modern action and crime genres, though, so we have big plans to reintroduce these fabled titles to the rest of the world, complementing Shout!’s growing catalog of revered Asian films.”
Fields added, “We have big plans for home video. We know that audience and will super-serve them.”
The deal also covers streaming as many of these movies will be featured on Shout!TV’s digital platform. These classic bullet fests will also be treated with marathons and special event screenings as well. I can literally taste the gun powder luminating from one or two of Chow Yun-Fat’s pistols.
What makes this transaction so monumental is that many of these action epics are rare and hard to find especially titles like Woo’s immersive saga Bullet in the Head which has several albeit rare releases of different cuts of the movie. The Golden Princess filmography hasn’t just been entertaining since its golden age of Hong Kong action cinema in the ’80’s and ’90’s but they have also influenced filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino as well as The Matrix franchise. Allin all, there are over 156 films represented here so buckle up buttercup. Lock N Load for some future home video releases to shell out our hard-earned money for.
