BD 129-130 Dragon Inn & A Touch of Zen

[MichaelB]

The physical media market is shrinking year on year, and multiple labels are trying out various initiatives to gently encourage people to pay realistic prices - something that's becoming critically important to smaller labels given that they can't match the majors for economies of scale.

I don't think A Touch of Zen is the least bit overpriced given that it's a brand new restoration of a three-hour film (with all the additional expense that that implies in terms of subtitling - a major if often unacknowledged part of the production budget) - but this way you have the choice between paying a realistic price now and a lower price later.

So from a certain perspective you're right: this is a strategy to ask more money for this release. But what you're not acknowledging is that the motivation behind this isn't greed - merely the desire to stay in business in a contracting market.

[AK]

Has the release date changed I pre ordered but amazon are showing "Currently Unavailable" will let you know if or when this will be released

No idea why they're showing that. Perhaps just a system error? In my orders at least it still shows a delivery time for that's in line for a dispatch tomorrow. (And there it does say the release date is 25 January).

[perkizitore]

They have sold out their allocation, that is probably why it's listed as unavailable.

[domino harvey]

Amazon.co.uk has done this with all of the recent limited releases from Arrow and BFI and every time, patience reveals all orders get fulfilled and more come into stock. Fear not

[perkizitore]

BFI doesn't always state how limited their releases really are and you can't compare the popularity of the War Trilogy and Preminger to King Hu and Deep Red (especially Deep Red is highly unlikely to be back in stock, with the exception of a few cancellations)

[domino harvey]

Tell you what: If I am wrong, I owe the forum a Coke

[Grisbi]

BFI doesn't always state how limited their releases really are and you can't compare the popularity of the War Trilogy and Preminger to King Hu and Deep Red (especially Deep Red is highly unlikely to be back in stock, with the exception of a few cancellations)

Deep Red was actually back in stock on Amazon UK for a handful of hours Friday night with around (I think) 125 copies. Sold back out fast as lightning, but domino is right that more often than not there is another window of availability beyond the first "sellout". I think there's extremely little chance Zen isn't available again at some point soon.

[Drucker]

Arrow also explicitly said that Deep Red was selling out/sold out, while no such notification was given for the other releases.

[isakborg]

For those of you who pre-ordered, like myself, and were disconcerted, like myself, when the unavailable notice appeared, I checked Amazon UK this morning and A Touch of Zen has in fact been shipped to me. And, I would assume, to all you who also preordered.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

It's also no longer listed as unavailable but instead as "dispatched within 9 to 11 days," so no doubt they're expecting a restock.

[What A Disgrace]

I pre-ordered mine with some other items, and it isn't scheduled to ship until the end of February. I should not worry about this, should I?

[Bürgermeister]

I pre-ordered mine with some other items, and it isn't scheduled to ship until the end of February. I should not worry about this, should I?

I would be, particularly if it's something you want.
Buy it direct from Eureka, yeah it's £21.99 but at least you'll get it.

[rapta]

Amazon.co.uk has done this with all of the recent limited releases from Arrow and BFI and every time, patience reveals all orders get fulfilled and more come into stock. Fear not

No doubt that you're right. I had a few BFI pre-orders from Amazon dispatch a week or two late in the last few months. This is definitely a good seller - Kevin quoted about 60% sold on pre-order a week or two ago - but I very much doubt it's already OOP.

Eureka only dispatched direct pre-orders on Friday, so they must have got stock at the last minute. Amazon says 9-11 days but it'll probably only be 4-5 days at the most.

Mine arrived this morning, so I guess I was lucky. The slipcover is a little battered though, which is slightly annoying as if I was to return my copy I'd have to wait for new stock to get a replacement.

By the way, if anybody has pre-ordered from Amazon but it hasn't dispatched yet, and is thinking of cancelling theirs - don't! At some point whilst it was Out Of Stock, the price dropped to £17.35...so it's the cheapest price for this release from any retailer. Of course, if you don't mind paying an extra fiver then go with Eureka directly and you'll get it sooner.

[Emilio]

My pre-order at Zavvi has not shipped yet. I just received an email that they are looking into the situation and inform me as soon as they know more.

Hmmm, how worried should I be? Is there anyone else who had pre-ordered at Zavvi?

[domino harvey]

Just got my shipping notice from Amazon, as expected

[Spacescape]

Amazon.co.uk has done this with all of the recent limited releases from Arrow and BFI and every time, patience reveals all orders get fulfilled and more come into stock. Fear not

No doubt that you're right. I had a few BFI pre-orders from Amazon dispatch a week or two late in the last few months. This is definitely a good seller - Kevin quoted about 60% sold on pre-order a week or two ago - but I very much doubt it's already OOP.

Eureka only dispatched direct pre-orders on Friday, so they must have got stock at the last minute. Amazon says 9-11 days but it'll probably only be 4-5 days at the most.

Mine arrived this morning, so I guess I was lucky. The slipcover is a little battered though, which is slightly annoying as if I was to return my copy I'd have to wait for new stock to get a replacement. :(

By the way, if anybody has pre-ordered from Amazon but it hasn't dispatched yet, and is thinking of cancelling theirs - don't! At some point whilst it was Out Of Stock, the price dropped to £17.35...so it's the cheapest price for this release from any retailer. Of course, if you don't mind paying an extra fiver then go with Eureka directly and you'll get it sooner.

I got mine from Amazon yesterday, the slipcase was fine thankfully. I was charged £20.23 but they sent me an automatic refund of £2.88. Its currently in stock and priced at £19.99 if anyone is wanting to buy from Amazon.

[Emilio]

Yes! Just got an email from Zavvi that they dispatched this order...

[HugoDeVries]

Is there supposed to be a slipcase AND a physical booklet with the release.

Had my amazon delivery arrive today, it was shrink wrapped but NO slipcase nor booklet, is booklet a pdf thing?

[tenia]

Looks like a factory mistake.
Both the slipcase and the booklet are a physical thing and should be included.

[HugoDeVries]

Cheers for the reply.

Guess its now limited to 1999 copies and one return!

[Orlac]

Bluray.com a bit torn on Dragon Inn - http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dragon-In ... 96/#Review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Drucker]

Interestingly, the color seems to match A Touch of Zen.

[feihong]

I have the Touch of Zen disc, it looks pretty great as far as I can see. I saw it at the LA Film Festival quite a few years ago, but the color on this disc is fairly close to the color I saw on that print, only with the added clarity of the restoration. I'm not as convinced the look on the discs isn't authentic. I've not seen Dragon Inn theatrically, but after living with some pretty nasty DVDs over the years, these discs give a lot nicer an experience.

Interesting detail on the Touch of Zen disc, there is a title card in the beginning that indicates that the restoration was funded entirely by Hsu Feng.

[StevenJ0001]

Bluray.com a bit torn on Dragon Inn - http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dragon-In ... 96/#Review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That review doesn't seem to provide any evidence whatsoever that the film was not intended to look that way. Rather, the criticisms appear to be based on personal preference, which would be a very unfair assessment of the disc. Am I missing something?

[ermylaw]

^ Quite right. In fact, the review suggests evidence to the contrary insofar as it says, "The film's director of photography, Mr. Hua Hui-Ying, was involved with the restoration and supervised the color grading."

Presumably the film's director of photography has a better understanding of the way the film should look than the reviewer.