Shout Factory acquires Golden Princess library

[Serums]

Hey all.

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/john-...236272850/

The entire library. I imagine we'll get new remasters of many of the films that we've reconstructed.

[PDB]

Awesome! Hope they don't screw it up

[dvdmike]

Saw Spencers video, the worst company that be trusted with anything this important

[LucasGodzilla]

Saw Spencers video, the worst company that be trusted with anything this important

It's hard to say, because I could totally see this being a scenario where Fortune Star handles all of the mastering and whatnot for better or worse. As far as I can tell, most labels like Eureka just take the existing restored masters that company produces and slaps it onto a disc unless a UHD is involved—but even then, it could be a case where Fortune Star handles that step as well.

What this would mean if I had to make any guesses, is that whilst we'll be seeing some UHDs for some sorely missing titles from the catalog, we'll probably be stuck with some very yellow / warm grade jobs as well. After all, this is what happened with A Better Tomorrow overseas, and given stuff like Hard–Boiled were graded super yellow too last I checked, I'd be surprised if anyone bothered trying to re–instate the theatrical teal grade.

if there's anything I would possibly say that Shout! may specifically flub up down the line, it'd either be something technical like bad encodes or defective discs (though that applies to any label for that matter) or I just make the easy potshot by saying they'll exclude the director's cut of Bullet In The Head when it hits UHD given their track record with Nightbreed and Lifeforce.


On a less jaded note though, I am very happy to hear that this catalog got freed up at all; wasn't expecting to see it happen at all on this new year's bingo card. So here's to hopefully seeing some new masters of Tiger On Beat, City On Fire, Full Contact and etc imminently down the line.


Also, whilst on the subject of Golden Princess, I did discover something rather peculiar recently during Black Friday. Apparently a few years ago, Vinegar Syndrome were able to put a Golden Princess title out somehow and I have absolutely no clue how that happened? I don't suppose anyone here has any clue how it got the green card for a release before this announcement?

[Serums]

Undeclared War and Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon (that Eureka released a few years ago) were produced by Cinema Capital which was either a later iteration or a subsidiary of Cinema City.
I believe that the Mei Ah has some rights over those titles so perhaps the labels negotiated with them.

I wonder if Undeclared War might have had its rights outside HK handled by a different company? Assuming it might have been a co-production.

[CSchmidlapp]

The acquisition is amazing news and something I was not expecing to see.
Truly great news.

World Cinema Library label in China have released Fortune Star restored UHD's with HDR of both John Woo's A Better Tomorrow and Once a Thief. They both also contain the Original Mono mixes fully restored along with new Atmos remixes.

I imagine Fortune Star are restoring most of there Golden Princess back catalogue and will be making there masters available to other right holders like all there others.
As mentioned the majority of western label releases have been these masters.

Although thats not to say that the 'Shout' projects can not go back to earlier materials (eg Camera Negatives) to do there own work.
Look at the UK 'Arrow' Bruce Lee Boxset and '88 films' Dragons Forever releases.
Have 'Shout' ever done this?
And do 'Shout' have a U.K partner label?

[PDB]

Saw Spencers video, the worst company that be trusted with anything this important

Captainsolo's video for those who want to watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egMM6p3dTOo&t

[zoidberg]

Interesting news. All I would say is manage your expectations at this stage.

I imagine they will get the Fortune Star pipeline ie new scan with questionable grading. Ritrovata have a facility in Asia so they will most likely be responsible for the work (A Better Tomorrow was one of the first restorations). Perhaps a handful of titles will get special treatment. Personally I would prefer straight IP scans, but we''ll have to see.

I would be very surprised if they can find the lost footage for extended/director's cuts. As far as I know in most cases that footage was never archived, only conformed OCNs and interneg. Woo famously took a vacation after finishing Bullet in the Head and when he returned to tackle an extended cut was told the footage was disposed of (keep in mind Woo financed this himself).

At the end of the day Shout is a business enterprise, they haven't bought this back catalogue in an act of philanthropy. I imagine the sales of the more famous titles will probably make the deal profitable, but it may be the case that certain titles don't get physical releases, only streaming.

People have been waiting so long for the John Woo Hong Kong films that they will buy whatever comes out, much like True Lies.

[LucasGodzilla]

At the end of the day Shout is a business enterprise, they haven't bought this back catalogue in an act of philanthropy. I imagine the sales of the more famous titles will probably make the deal profitable, but it may be the case that certain titles don't get physical releases, only streaming.

Odds are they'll be releasing a lot of those titles by the bulk. I can see it already frankly, either loads of Golden Princess boxes or boxes that are organized by whatever series involved (IE: A Better Tomorrow 1–3). It's probably the most efficient way for Shout! to take advantage of the excess titles outside of the standout hits.

[PDB]

So dumb question here. How many of these GP/CC movies already have HD/UHD transfers that Shout could use?

Just thinking out loud here and someone correct me if I'm wrong.

A Better Tomorrow Trilogy has a remaster BD release and is on UHD
A Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy has a remaster BD release (Maybe two different transfers?)
Full Contact has a remastered BD release
City on Fire has a remastered  BD release
Once a Thief has a remastered UHD
Hard Boiled has that remastered BD release in Japan (which always looked like L'immaginerit Rovata's work to me)
Peking Opera Blues has a HD web out there
Peace Hotel I think had a BD release but not sure
Prison on Fire Series has a HD release I think
Tiger on (the) Beat has a remastered BD release
Wild Search has a remastered BD release

The big missing ones are obviously Killer and Bullet.

(Unrelated to GP but I'd kill for a remastered of To's The Mission, as I finally tracked down the remastered Longest Nite and Expect the Unexpected)