Woochifer
03-01-2010, 08:28 PM
This was a topic of discussion a while ago.
http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=32789
At the moment, there's not a whole lot of martial arts movies on Blu-ray. Not surprising given that martial arts is very much a niche genre with a relatively small but very devoted audience. Also, with classic Asian martial arts pics, many of the original source prints are in horrible condition and would require extensive (and expensive) restoration work. Given the narrow market for martial arts movies, it's kind of a bleak outlook for martial arts movies on Blu-ray because the returns would not make that kind of investment worthwhile to restoring most of those titles. Without that restoration work, even if somebody wanted to put some of the classic martial arts movies out on Blu-ray, they simply won't look very good.
I'd mentioned that the Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty series might be the godsend for martial arts fans. They have already issued some great titles on DVD, most of which have surprisingly good picture quality. And they hold the U.S. rights to the Shaw Brothers film library. Unlike other Hong Kong studios, the Shaw Brothers did a great job at preserving their illustrious film library.
The Dragon Dynasty series already issued several of these titles on DVD, and this week they will put out their first Blu-ray release! And appropriately, it will be the Shaw Brothers classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, easily one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made. I have the 2007 DVD release, and the picture quality was great -- testament to the great care that Shaw Brothers studio took in preserving and restoring their classic titles. I would expect nothing less from this BD release.
http://www.dragondynasty.com/vault/dvdcovers/36th-shaolin_132x187.jpg
Another upcoming gem from the Dragon Dynasty series is John Woo's 1989 gangster epic The Killer. Featuring a tour de force performance from Chow Yun-Fat and some of the most jawdropping gun battles ever filed, this is one of the great masterworks of Hong Kong cinema. It comes out on both DVD and Blu-ray soon, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the picture quality. No word on whether any of the previously released Dragon Dynasty titles will also come out on Blu-ray.
http://www.dragondynasty.com/vault/dvdcovers/the-killer-blu_132x187.jpg
http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=32789
At the moment, there's not a whole lot of martial arts movies on Blu-ray. Not surprising given that martial arts is very much a niche genre with a relatively small but very devoted audience. Also, with classic Asian martial arts pics, many of the original source prints are in horrible condition and would require extensive (and expensive) restoration work. Given the narrow market for martial arts movies, it's kind of a bleak outlook for martial arts movies on Blu-ray because the returns would not make that kind of investment worthwhile to restoring most of those titles. Without that restoration work, even if somebody wanted to put some of the classic martial arts movies out on Blu-ray, they simply won't look very good.
I'd mentioned that the Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty series might be the godsend for martial arts fans. They have already issued some great titles on DVD, most of which have surprisingly good picture quality. And they hold the U.S. rights to the Shaw Brothers film library. Unlike other Hong Kong studios, the Shaw Brothers did a great job at preserving their illustrious film library.
The Dragon Dynasty series already issued several of these titles on DVD, and this week they will put out their first Blu-ray release! And appropriately, it will be the Shaw Brothers classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, easily one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made. I have the 2007 DVD release, and the picture quality was great -- testament to the great care that Shaw Brothers studio took in preserving and restoring their classic titles. I would expect nothing less from this BD release.
http://www.dragondynasty.com/vault/dvdcovers/36th-shaolin_132x187.jpg
Another upcoming gem from the Dragon Dynasty series is John Woo's 1989 gangster epic The Killer. Featuring a tour de force performance from Chow Yun-Fat and some of the most jawdropping gun battles ever filed, this is one of the great masterworks of Hong Kong cinema. It comes out on both DVD and Blu-ray soon, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the picture quality. No word on whether any of the previously released Dragon Dynasty titles will also come out on Blu-ray.
http://www.dragondynasty.com/vault/dvdcovers/the-killer-blu_132x187.jpg