Golden Princess film library acquired by Shout Factory

[grim_tales]

https://variety.com/2025/film/global/jo ... 236272850/

Just read this via Facebook and Blu Ray.com. This is super exciting if we will finally get good releases of The Killer, Hard Boiled and others on physical media. Certainly wasn't expecting this

[EvaUnit02]

I'm pretty excited to get potentially decent blu-rays of the John Woo films.

[HungFist]

This is fantastic news, especially if they are wise enough / able to collaborate with British labels like Arrow.

I'd like to see some of the Woo films in particular get a deluxe treatment with multiple cuts (I'm not really holding up any hopes, but the French Version Longue of The Killer is by far my favourite version of the film, notably better than the standard theatrical version or the overlong Taiwanese version IMO).

Luckily it was confirmed that Irongod and Brandon Bentley are working on these releases (the same guys who assist Eureka, 88, Criterion and Arrow with their HK releases). Shout doesn't have a good track record with HK releases but with those guys on board we can expect at least decent mono tracks.

[grim_tales]

I always thought the extended version of The Killer on that French DVD was the same as the 'Taiwanese' version I'd hope if it's revisited it can be remastered, as I think the version on the DVD came from a workprint. I'm sure they'll put lots of effort into the Woo classics as they know they'll sell.

[HungFist]

I always thought the extended version of The Killer on that French DVD was the same as the 'Taiwanese' version I'd hope if it's revisited it can be remastered, as I think the version on the DVD came from a workprint. I'm sure they'll put lots of effort into the Woo classics as they know they'll sell.

I don't actually know how the French Version Longue (124 min PAL / 129 min NTSC) came to be. It's not the Taiwanese version (136 min NTSC) (or at least not the version released on VHS in Taiwan) which is about 7 minutes longer and features many unnecessary scenes IMO. It could actually be the Taiwanese theatrical release assuming the VHS featured a further extended version. I doubt it's a "workprint" however since it has burned in subtitles...

The standard theatrical version (111 min NTSC) on the other hand misses several of my favourite scenes, and a lot of the action feels clumsily edited.

The French Version Longue strikes a perfect balance between these two IMO. It is in Mandarin of course, but I'm fine with that as that's how I've always been viewing it.

[grim_tales]

Interesting, thanks Hung