Welcome to the New Company, Same as the Old Company.

Could it be any more egotistical for these guys put their name in the company's name? It'd be one thing if they were actually involved creatively, but they're not real filmmakers and obviously aren't even lovers of film. They're both just asshats looking to finagle themselves as much money as possible.

Is there a web resource for finding out exactly which films the Weinstein's are sitting on? Sometimes I like to wait for an American release DVD on forein films so I can enjoy the extras. If Bob and Harvey have it, however, I'd like to know so I can search for a legit copy from another region. I heard these guys are so anal that they actually try to block english subtitles on foriegn releases. Jerks...

Dunno about blocking the eng subs, but Mirry was notoriously for hunting down sites based in the US that were selling the imports. Which was a big reason some people cried havoc reading of their Asian titles they got before a theatrical release in Asia...kind closes the window of being able to get your hands on a legit copy.

God. I can't tell you lot how much I was hoping they'd change their 'strategy.'

Jeff: right now, the best thing for you to do is google Variety's festival coverage. That's the only places I've seen where it lists what they have...as their website obviously doesn't list everything.

"The Weinstein Company acquired North American distribution rights to David Leland's "Decameron" with Hayden Christensen and Mischa Barton, Doug Lefler's "Last Legion" with Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley, and Peter Webber's "Young Hannibal," all produced by Dino de Laurentiis, Martha de Laurentiis and Tarak Ben Ammar

These announcements cap a busy week in Cannes for The Weinstein Company at the Cannes Film Festival, including the premiere of its first film, "Wolf Creek," and the announcements of a formal relationship with Rainbow Media yesterday, the partnerships with IDG New Media Fund on the acquisition of "The Promise," and with Kanbar Entertainment the acquisition of "Hoodwinked!" Other deals include the acquisitions of "Nomad," the sci-fi title "Outlander," Geoffrey Sax's "Stormbreaker," and Duncan Tucker's "Transamerica," which was grabbed out of the Tribeca Film Festival."

From here: http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_050520cann.html

Also this might be helpful too: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117923224?cs=1&s=h&p=0

They also have N. American and UK rights to Sha Po Lang and they're eyeing Dragon Tiger Gate.

Yes, as per usual, I'll be buying the Thai/Korean/HK disc which will be about a year before the film plays in Canada.

Sad.

Sony Picture Classics benchmark for quality asian releases (although they did take a while with 2046...) few to no cuts, good subtitles, etc. But for some reason, they couldn't pull of a smash with House of Flying Daggers...

wow, what fuck-ups

i was wondering what happened to shaolin soccer
and i cannot believe that title change, The Master of the Crimson Armor
that names almost as ridiculous as the now infamous "Snakes on a Plane" with samuel L
the weinsteins go to hell along with tarantino for exploiting asian cinema

Playing the devil's advocate here....

At this point, it's a well-known fact that the Hippostein Bros. are disrespectful of Asian cinema and totally indifferent towards its fans. So, I feel the film makers/producers are equally at fault for entrusting their work to these dollar-worshipping trolls. Being the highest bidder should not be their sole criterion for selecting a foreign distributor.

What I don't understand is what the Weinsteins can gain out of this? I highly doubt that they're about messing with Asian films, because there's no reason for them to waste their money like that. So what can it be?

Weinstein company must be rejected by Asia films forever! They fooled Asian film again and again and it's an cheating act!

Did they pick up Citizen Dog under Disney or their new company? Now that Disney is starting to unload their stock of unreleased films they have been sitting on for years I was hoping Citizen would be one of them.

As far as I know nobody owns Citizen Dog for North America. Besson's Europa Corp has international rights but I don't believe they've found anyone to release it here yet.

Dear Wein$tein bros,

Fuck off and die.

Have a nice day.

there.

Oh that reminds me. I saw an ad in the newspaper recently for the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which is in about two months. The program of the festival hasn't been made public yet, but at the top of the ad they used two pictures from Citizen Dog! Also with a note: "pictures from Citizen Dog" or something. So I guess that means it will play at the festival.

I don't know if they are intentionally rascist but why is this their pattern with Asian films? I mean, if they bought up a Brit or French film and re-cut it, re-dubbed it, re-titled it, and re-scored it and then held it up for 2 years, the European press would be all over them. Why do they get to do this with Asian products? And yes, the film-makers are to blame. Shame on Donnie Yen for doing business with them again after Hero. Shame on him.

Hmm, mebbe this comment will post. Marten's got a point. By now, Asian filmmakers should be aware of the promises the Weinstein's fail to hold to. Who knows what they're told when release dates slip. But they don't -have- to sell the rights. Hell, unless you're in a big city or near one that hosts film festivals, the only likely way you'll see a film is getting your hands on the DVD here in the States [dunno how similar it is for you Canadians..] Europe has better chances of seeing these films [as my dutch buddy LOVES to rub in].

They should put their foot down - Bob and Harv have dropped the ball way too many times when it comes to this.

they probably don't even care how they handle their films in America. They got their money, and often they don't even get a significant % of box office intake, so why care?

You can't really blame the filmmakers for who ends up buying the international distribution rights to their films. By and large, they won't be the ones who actually hold the rights to the films they created. That's all done by the accountants and corporate fat cats, who are probably in the business for the very same reason as the Weinsteins: money.

as sad as this might seem, their constant delaying and bad treatment to Asian films is only encouraging piracy and parallel imports of dvd's which they try to cease and desist constnatly. Whinestein brothers should actually think about that for once.

previous poster said it exactly. The one and only time I knowingly bought a bootleg was with Hero because I couldn't find the legal import. When I did find the legal import, the site stopped selling them almost immediately because the Weinsteins leaned on the web retailers. Hey, I'm all for stopping bootlegging of all kind but they don't have a right to prevent me buying legal imports ESPECIALLY if they are holding up the US release for 3 years.

I guess there is little hope for SPL being released in the US anytime soon.

Earl: you have better luck seeking out the HK DVD when it's released. And it will prolly be cut for improvement when they finally release it in N. America. Joy.

On the piracy and parallel imports- it really stirs my grits when someone says what I can and can not buy with my own money. Like I'm going to wait for 1+ years for their version when there are perfectly good ones already floating around. It'd be another thing if they had a history or turning out a worthwhile version [like the discs HKL churns out] that merited the wait. They want a chunk a change, they should think about doing DVD releases that they ought to know hard core fans are going to buy. How many of us do the happy dance when we find out we'll be able to get such an such in region X on $date??? Or, better yet, when we finally get our hands on it?

I've never understood it. They could get in on the coin by releasing the R1 dvds around the same time they're available in Asia..assuming they're good quality and worth buying- taking advantage of the buzz that surrounds the film on the sites we get our news from.