Hong Kong’s action cinema of the 1980s and ’90s featured some of the most ambitious filmmakers, charismatic stars, and memorable set pieces of any era of moviemaking anywhere. But for the last 20 years, almost all of the era’s classics have been unavailable for digital rental, purchase, or streaming in the U.S. due to international rights issues. Shout! Studios is changing that, with an announcement Monday of an exciting upcoming slate of digital and physical restorations through its new Hong Kong Cinema Classics label, including many releases in 4K. The titles include classics from Hong Kong action legends John Woo and Tsui Hark, a Jet Li collection, and many more features that in my opinion are some of the greatest movies ever made.
This is news I have been waiting for (along with other action fans around the country) since the January announcement that Shout! had secured the rights to 156 Hong Kong movies from that era. This initial announcement only represents a small portion of that library, but it started with the big ones, bringing back some of the era’s best and most influential movies.
The first batch of 4K physical releases will start in July, with a very exciting Jet Li collection coming out July 29 that includes Fist of Legend, Tai Chi Master, Fong Sai Yuk (a personal favorite), Fong Sai Yuk II, and The Bodyguard From Beijing. Each movie in the collection will include a new audio commentary, newly translated subtitles, and interviews, including with director Gordon Chan. City on Fire will get its own 4K release Aug. 26, followed by Peking Opera Blues’ release Sept. 23.
A lot of the attention these releases get will focus on the John Woo and Jet Li movies, and rightly so. But I want to highlight Peking Opera Blues, a special film that I hope this restoration gives the attention it deserves. An ode to the Chinese opera that was the childhood foundation for many future Hong Kong action stars, Peking Opera Blues is also a funny (but tense!) movie about rebellion, life during wartime, and gender roles in early-20th-century China. One of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite movies ever, it is impeccably constructed, beautiful to watch, and endlessly entertaining.
Shout!’s press release states that the company worked in collaboration with the Hong Kong Film Archives on the restorations, scanning these movies to 4K from the original camera negatives.
“Hong Kong cinema in the ’80s and ’90s, renowned for its thrilling action choreography, distinctive visual styles, and emotional storytelling, represents a remarkable era in cinematic history, whose crime thrillers, martial arts classics, and action films, in particular, have left an indelible mark on Hollywood, profoundly influencing everything from Quentin Tarantino’s movies to the iconic Matrix and John Wick franchises,” the press release says. “Among these are many acclaimed and popular early works by renowned filmmakers John Woo, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, Corey Yuen, Gordon Chan, Johnnie To, and internationally renowned actors Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Leslie Cheung, and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Many of these highly sought-after movies from Shout!’s Golden Princess library and seminal Hong Kong classics have been dormant and out-of-print for decades outside of Asia.”
The restorations will start with a series of digital releases in June, July, and August:
Shout!’s announcement says the Jet Li collection will be available from “select participating online stores,” but that fans who pre-order it at ShoutFactory.com “will receive an exclusive 18 x 24 [inch] poster featuring the new illustration artwork while supplies last.”
