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Windtalkers R3 DVD gets extra effort [25.11.2002] 

Deltamac distributes Woo's latest movie Windtalkers in Hong Kong. Now R3 DVD is available for pre-orders from DDDHouse.com. Looks like R3 DVD would include more extra material compared to American bare bones R1 DVD. DDDHouse lists trailer, behind the scenes footage, making of, photogallery and dokumentary.  So R3 DVD seems to be more or less similar to Australian R4 release sheduled to December.

 

New Deltamac DVD releases in Hong Kong [25.11.2002] 

Deltamac released some John Woo movies in Hong Kong recently. These releases are new DVDs and not the same ones previously released by Unverse (Hong Kong) and WA (China). Unfortunately according to what I've heard these new DVDs would be regioncoded  for Audience audience only, Regiond 3 and 6. DVDs has Cantonse and Mandarin soundtracks and subtitles in Chinese and English. 

(week 48)
Laughing Times (DVD 78046)
Money Crazy (DVD 78072)
         (week 47)
To Hell With Devil (DVD 78051)
From Riches to Rags (DVD 78048)
         (weeks 44-46)
A Better Tomorrow (DVD 78007)
A Better Tomorrow 2 (DVD 78008)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry (DVD 78010)
Rebel From China  (DVD 78014)

DVD info:
Letterboxed
Cantonese (DD2.0), Mandarin (DD2.0)
Chinese (Traditional / Simplified), English subtitles
Region codes 3 & 6
Extra: Trailer

Red Skies (TV) [25.11.2002] 

John Wooand Terence Chang worked as Executive prodicers for another TV production. Red Skies was released by USA Network Inc. in 7 August 2002. Story was directed by Larry Carroll and Robert Lieberman and writtend by John Rogers. 

A Chinese cop (Vivian Wu) tracks down a Chinese ganglord (Roger Yuan) who specializes in kidnapping of Chinese immigrants to serve in his American sweatshops and who killed her partners. Following him to San Diego, she teams with an American agent (Shawn Christian) and his team. The differences of operation immediately becomes clear as the American team relies on paperwork and she wants to attack head on to bring him down, but the two eventually reach an understanding of each other and work to bring the gangster down. 

 

Shaw Bros movies are coming [17.11.2002] 

Celestial Pictures Ltd. proudly announced the coming release of the Shaw Brothers film masterpieces, which have largely been unavailable to audiences after their initial theatrical release. A total of 760 gems from this film treasure trove will be made available for the first time on DVD and VCD formats from the 5th of this December onwards, after undergoing a state-of-the-art digitization process to restore each film’s sound and image to exceptional quality. The entire restoration process will take over three years and involves a team of 30 professionals who work round-the-clock to restore the visual and sound quality of each frame of the 760 movies.

First movies will be released in December 5th in Hong Kong. But these Hong Kong versions will be region coded for Asian audience, R3. Later these movies propably will be released in some other countries like US and UK but I haven't heard anything about release schedule. .  read press release. 

December 5th 2002		December 19th 2002
· The Heroic Ones (1970)  - Killer Clans (1976) · Come Drink With Me - (1966). · The Tea House (1974) · The Warlord  (1972). · Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (1983)  · Love in a Fallen City (1984)  · The Price of Love (1983) · Kingdom And the Beauty (1958) · Hong Kong Nocturne (1970)		· House of 72 Tenants (1973). · Till the End of the Time (1966). · Blue and Black  (1966). · Empress Dowager  (1975). · Clans of Intrique (1976) · Bridge Napping  (1960).·  - Hong Kong Rhapsody  (1976). · ??? - Lo Lieh, Hu Chin (1974). · ??? - David Chiang, Ti Lung (1971). · ??? - Cherie Chung (1983).

Woo getting his Paycheck [17.11.2002] 

Paycheck is a scifi thriller based by a short story by Philip K. Dick (Minority Report). Woo is planning to direct it for Paramount.  Paycheck is supposed to be Woo's next movie after Windtalkers. Story is about an engineer who agrees to have his memory erased after working on a top-secret project. Then he decides to find out what the big secret really was. Script is written by Stuart Hadelzine and Dean Georgaris. Brett Ratner was attached to helm the project, but he dropped out last month in order to direct Warner Bros.' Superman V. Also kathryn Bigelow was mentioned as possible director at some point. Paycheck is scheduled to begin production in February. John Woo directed his blockbusters Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2 for Paramount.Woo would like to have Matt Damon to leading role but no contracts has been made so far. 

If Woo accepts Paychek project then his another epic movie Land of Destiny for buena Vista will be shelved. According to report by IGN FilmForce script revisited by Chris McQuarrie didn't make it at Woo's Lion Rock Pictures and so  Land of Destiny was shelved. It is unknown if the problem was in the script itself or  had some actual problems or if it was solely budget related problem. The Divide (Land of Destiny / The Line) was supposed to be Woo's next movie after Windtalkers but it was delayed. Maybe Buena Vista does not believe that big epic movie would be a good idea. In story Chow Yun-fat stars as Chinese immigrant came to California during the 19th Century. While working on the Transcontinental railroad, he meets up with an Irish immigrant, played by Nicolas Cage.

The Killer Hong Kong Legends R2 DVD released 21.10.2002 [02.11.2002] 

Hong Kong Legends (UK) released October 21 2002 John Woo classic The Killer on R2 PAL DVD. DVD has digitally re-mastered and restored anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in Cantonese and English. As additional material it has feature lenght audio commentary with HK cinema expert Bey Logan, trailer archive, interviews with Sally yeh, Kenneth Tsang and cinematographer Peter Pau and deleted scenes. Hong kong Legends is still planning to release Woo's Bullet in the Head and Once a Thief in future but no release date or disc details has been announced so far.

So if Woo accepts Paycheck his historical epic movie Men of Destiny for Buena Vista will be shelved. 

A Better Tomorrow SE 2-DVD [02.11.2002] 

MIA (UK) have announced John Woo's groundbreaking classic, A Better Tomorrow, for a 2-disc Special Edition release on their Hong Kong Classics label set for December 27th 2002 with a retail price of £19.99. Hopefully this DVD release has better picture quality just like japanese version. For a 2 DVD version extra material list is not so long but it is better than nothing. Especially behind the scenes featurette could be nice if it includes some real on the set material. Interview and picture galleries should be something nice as well but it depends on how much work guys from MIA have done to achieve something a bit more meaningful and rare material. Of course all this could have been put to one disc but it doesn't hurt to reserve one DVD for the movie alone. Director's commentary would have been very nice addition to this disc but this time we can't have it.. 

Presented in an anamorphic widescreen format, this release has been sourced from a digitally remastered print of the original Cantonese version of the film with digitally re-mastered English subtitles. The disc also includes the English language version of the film. Special features include interviews with director John Woo, stars Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung, a behind-the-scenes featurette, theatrical trailers, a gallery of rare artwork and production stills, extensive talent biographies and fully interactive moving menus.

Links:                        
DVD Times

Windtalkers - John Woo and Nic Cage interview [02.11.2002] 

Windtalking Cage and Woo go to war