©Courtesy of The Golden Princess
Shout! Studios is making a major move that is set to excite action film enthusiasts. Shout! Studios has acquired worldwide rights to The Golden Princess movie library, which contains 156 Hong Kong cinema classics that have been MIA from Western markets for decades.
The deal, which brings together Hollywood’s independent film company with a prestigious library of Hong Kong films, features genre-defining works by directing luminaries John Woo and Tsui Hark, and stars-studded vehicles featuring Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung ChiuWaii, and Leslie Cheung.
The acquisitions include Woo’s action masterpieces, such as “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer,” the complete “Better Tomorrow” trilogy, Tsui’s “Peking Opera Blues”; Tony Ching’s “Chinese Ghost Story” trilogy; and additional hits like Wai Ka-fai’s “Peace Hotel,” Andrew Lam and Johnnie To’s “The Big Heat”.
These films, which dominated screens during Hong Kong’s cinematic golden age of the 1980s and 1990s, left an indelible mark on Hollywood, inspiring everything from Quentin Tarantino’s oeuvre to the “The Matrix” and “John Wick” franchises.
Shout! Studios was responsible for the landmark acquisition. David McIntosh, Jordan Fields, and Taylor Devorsky are students who are part of the Golden Princess Amusement Company, Ltd.
“This is a big one,” said Shout’s Fields, who is 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.”
Lai, executive director of Kowloon Development Company Ltd., the parent company of Golden Princess, added: “The films in the Golden Princess Library are akin to the sword in the stone. Shout! Studios is the entity capable of unlocking its potential.” The deal promises a feast for genre fans, with Shout! planning to remaster select Woo titles and even return some classics to theaters. Fields added, “We have big plans for home video. We know that audience and will super-serve them.”
These Hong Kong treasures will be available for streaming on Shout instead of physical media. The company’s digital entertainment platform, TV, will give special programming treatment, which will include marathons and viewing events.