First, the good news. Dragon Dynasty will be releasing Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet - a strikingly beautiful wuxia adaptation of Hamlet starring Daniel Wu and Zhang Ziyi - on DVD February 26th. I'd about given up hope that this was going to get a domestic release at all and it's a film that truly deserves one so this is a good thing. That Dragon Dynasty has typically done a very good job with the content of their releases is also a perk, though with this one all it'll really take is licensing the plentiful - and already subtitled - bonus features from the Hong Kong release.
The bad? They're releasing it under the title The Legend of the Black Scorpion. Wuh? This is a film that contains neither legends nor scorpions whether black, purple or any other color. They're leaving the classics alone but changing SPL to Kill Zone was a bit icky and now this one is just plain confusing.
I read a rumor they're thinking about changing Flash Point to The Signal. Despite there already being a movie with that title this year, and despite there not being a signal anywhere in the fucking movie.
But I'm more concerned with them apparently entirely abandoning releases of older films. I was looking forward to building a library of all the movies I watched on Tai Seng video years ago and loved without having to go to the trouble of importing.
Wow, that's a ludicrous title change. I would think Bey Logan would step in and say something about that. Just call it Chinese Hamlet then you idiots!
Cool! but where is "Quentin Tarantino presents" title on the box? and i hope this thing fully dubbed in english and cut in half.
new label, old story
just love Harvey Weinstein and his pure love to asian cinema.
So much for all that talk of how Bey Logan was going to keep them in line. I agree. He's proved his usefulness to fans again...NOT!
Here's the thing, playing devil's advocate for a second, give them the right to retitle.
They retitle as if they are going to outsmart some yokel in Walmart who will see this and buy it.
Well even if the yokel is fooled by these new titles, he's going to be bored by a film like The Banquet.
So what if they retitle and market it a certain way as to fool people? Those same people will also feel cheated just like real fans feel in other ways.
They lose on every front.
NEVER MIND that this film is more than a year old now!
Jesus Christ, they suck.
Unbelievable...
I reviewed "The Banquet" as well on this site and I didn't recognize this movie from the poster.
The quarter only dropped once I read the article!
grrr. What is their problem?!?!
I was expecting to see more releases of HK 80's stuff and Shaw Bros flicks, where they have sort of do the job right. In terms of releasing more recent films they are still doing the same crap they always do. Considering how good the HK DVD editions are these days, i couldn't care less about them releasing this.
That's about the dumbest the title since The Protector.
I feel for the viewers that couldn't have purchased any of the Asian releases on R3 discs because they don't have an all-region player. For shame DD. This ludicrous new title further chips away my confidence in your label.
But then it should be further incentive for anyone looking for original content to go out and buy that all-region DVD player.
Frustrating.
Yep, it's all FUSTRATING and a damn shame what they do to the titles and DVD cover art.
But, then again, at least in America most damn americans (I would say most americans, but not all) dont care about the name or the cover art. They dont even know the original name or what its about, but I also feel sorry for the MISLEADING of the public on some of the titles.
But a large percent (not all) dont even care if a movie is butchered and dub in enlish....... all they care about is that it is Eng Dub.
I had a person come into my store really wanting to see THE PROTECTOR bad... I told him I didnt have The Protector but I had the original 'un-butchered' TOM-YUM-GOONG, he asked if it was Eng Dub, I told him no, he didnt say anything else, just turned and left the store, even after I told him that the American version was cut by at least 30 mins.
And... that is the mind set on a huge percent of the American public, sorry to say.
Sweet Mother Mercy. Holy lords of Suck. I'm surprised there isn't a half naked chick on the cover, you know, to sell the film to the exact wrong audience (See Dimension's NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE).
I hate. hate. hate. Idiotic moves like this.
The Weinsteins strike again! Fools.