Arrow Announcements, Speculation & Wild, Irresponsible Conjecture

[denti alligator]

What are the chances of getting the Deklog and TV Works reissued, perhaps in 4K?

Slim to none, I'm afraid.

Good to know, thanks.

[Finch]

And that's it for the month. Arrow are equaling Criterion for sheer output, seven releases again one of which is a set with three films. The Eiichi Kudo set is a wonderful surprise and I locked it in with Hard Boiled. James, you guys are doing fabulous work.

[rapta]

Incredible announcements. Have been requesting the Kudo Trilogy from various labels for a while now, so glad to finally see it appear and it's a tidy little set too! I'm hoping they use slim cases so it takes up less shelf space, something some labels do better than others these days.

And of course I pre-ordered Hard Boiled. Will do the same for The Killer, Bullet in the Head, and A Better Tomorrow Trilogy of course, and tempted to pre-order the other HK titles (Peking Opera Blues at least). I've not watch City on Fire but I have a feeling once I do dip in, I'll get the bug again and have to watch loads of HK action. Never a bad thing as they're great fun!

Lastly, really happy to see Black Sunday finally make it here, one of my most-wanted Paramount titles. I very nearly imported the US disc at one point, hoping I could use the remote trick to get it to work, but this will make things much easier. One of Frankenheimer's best thrillers, which is saying something as he made several. Fingers crossed we get other Paramount titles I'm after, particularly Night Falls on Manhattan, Unman, Wittering and Zigo, The Tin Star and The Day of the Locust.

PS: Tempted by Salem's Lot 4K but the above take priority, might get it later on though. That said, I'll likely be catching up with the month before and those will also be prioritised (Peking Opera Blues, Excalibur, Westworld, Save the Green Planet! 4K). Slight shame they couldn't add new extras to Spaceballs, but makes things a bit easier for me personally as I haven't even watched the Blu-ray copy I bought earlier in the year!

[What A Disgrace]

If I may engage in some idle and perhaps inevitably wildly inaccurate speculation, I would think Volume 5 of the Shawscope series could focus on earlier films from the studio's notable directors, in a variety of genres, like King Hu, Chih Hung Kuei and Ho Meng Hua. It might also be a good place to showcase actress Betty Lo Tih, who died tragically young but was a very popular star, including in Palme d'Or winner The Enchanting Shadow and the monster smash hit The Love Eterne (she also started in Sons of the Good Earth, the film King Hu made immediately prior to Come Drink With Me).

[Finch]

Arrow teased the 1990s version of Mortal Kombat on Shitbook a few minutes ago.

[Maltic]

Very on brand

[Lowry_Sam]

So has anyone heard anything more concrete about exactly which HK titles Arrow has (ie. in comparison to Shout)? Can we expect that all Shout releases will also come out on Arrow?

[Finch]

They licensed all Golden Princess titles that Shout has. They add a booklet, some legacy extras and better subs to their discs, compared to Shout. They may also have some HK films that Warner has the rights to, like Pedicab Driver or Drunken Master 2, if Criterion didn't get there first.

[Finch]

[swo17]

Innerspace?

[jt938]

Bay Of Blood

[Dr Amicus]

My first thought was Outbreak.

[beamish14]

Look Who’s Talking, please

[Finch]

I was thinking a Universal title, either The Blob 98 or an upgrade of The Thing (blood test).

The Killer should be the next GP title (either that or the A Better Tomorrow trilogy) and I reckon the WB titles are Mortal Kombat 95 and something like Last Boy Scout or a second Seagull.

EDIT: Re WB and the blood cells tease, maybe Interview with a Vampire?

[jt938]

Bill Hunt posted this on Facebook

[dwk]

I was thinking a Universal title, either The Blob 98 or an upgrade of The Thing (blood test).

The Killer should be the next GP title (either that or the A Better Tomorrow trilogy) and I reckon the WB titles are Mortal Kombat 95 and something like Last Boy Scout or a second Seagull.

EDIT: Re WB and the blood cells tease, maybe Interview with a Vampire?

Do you mean The Blob 89? That is a Sony title.

Speaking of Universal, hasn't it been a while since Arrow released a Universal title?

[Finch]

Oops getting both the year and the distributor wrong!

[rapta]

Really love Innerspace, great news if it's that.

Next GP title will almost certainly be The Killer as it has a theatrical release in late March and each John Woo announcement has been preceded by a theatrical release two or three weeks before. Bullet in the Head after that in late May (theatrical) so presumably June for the disc, and A Better Tomorrow in late June (theatrical) so presumably July/August for a trilogy box set.

Leaves a gap for possibly another GP title in May...I'd especially love to see Prison on Fire 1&2 announced first, but it could just as easily be A Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy, The Swordsman Trilogy, The Big Heat or Once a Thief.

[Finch]

It won't be ACGS in May. Remember, James said late summer (or later still?) when I brought up the missing nighttime filters for A Chinese Ghost Story 1.

[rapta]

It won't be ACGS in May. Remember, James said late summer (or later still?) when I brought up the missing nighttime filters for A Chinese Ghost Story 1.

Ah I must've missed that, good to know. Maybe ready for Halloween then?

Reckon we'll get The Killer in today's announcements, looking forward to getting both that and Hard Boiled, and the rest of the Woo titles. Been spoiled by maximalist cinema from Arrow these past couple of years, with their Leone releases last year and now all these heroic bloodshed releases! I just got Eureka's release of Ringo Lam's The Adventurers to fill in the gap there too, so hope we see some more Lam from Arrow soon (e.g. Prison on Fire).

EDIT: Nice, The Killer just been announced and somehow even better than I expected (insane number of extras, and different cuts on extra discs).

FWIW, Brandon Bentley just confirmed to me that Once a Thief isn't being announced for May, so perhaps it'll be Prison on Fire 1&2 instead? Or maybe no HK announcement that month, we'll see.

[dwk]

Robert Meyer Brunett let slip some of the WB titles that he has heard Arrow is working on during one of his shows. They are Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Looker, and Logan's Run.

[Finch]

Also, Arrow now have Wake in Fright so a port of the Umbrella 4K, possibly with some unique to Arrow extras added, should follow in late spring or early summer. I'm good with the Fidelity-encoded Umbrella though.

[MichaelB]

Robert Meyer Brunett let slip some of the WB titles that he has heard Arrow is working on during one of his shows. They are Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Looker, and Logan's Run.

Amusingly, Johnny Mains and I recorded a commentary for one of those titles during which we plugged two others quite extensively, but had no idea at the time that Arrow were doing them as well! So it sounds like shameless cross-promotion, but it genuinely wasn’t.

[rapta]

Robert Meyer Brunett let slip some of the WB titles that he has heard Arrow is working on during one of his shows. They are Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Looker, and Logan's Run.

Nice, much like Westworld these are the kinds of titles I was hoping Arrow would be getting from Warner Bros. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing what they do with those Heston vehicles, but do have a soft spot for Logan's Run too. Still not seen Looker but should rectify that as it's Crichton.

[okcmaxk]

Any chance the R-rated footage for Logan’s Run could be out there?