What is quite obviously the best film news of 2025 thus far (and will be tough to beat in the foreseeable future) comes via Variety, who tell us Shout! Studios have acquired worldwide rights (minus certain Asian territories) to 156 films owned by Hong Kong’s legendary Golden Princess, comprising the likes of John Woo, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark, and Ringo Lam, to say nothing of filmmakers whose work’s been long sequestered from western eyes and is finally receiving due attention. (Consult this list, with a telling title, for a rundown headlined by Hard Boiled, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, the Better Tomorrow trilogy, Peking Opera Blues, God of Gamblers, and City on Fire.) For those who consider Hong Kong cinema between the ’80s and ’90s something of a peak for the medium itself (hello) this is a nice leavening effect the same month Los Angeles burns and Donald Trump becomes President once more.
One might expect it’ll take a second for any library so vast as Golden Princess’ to arrive. Restoration plans are unclear, minus the notice that Shout! looks to “remaster select Woo titles and even return some classics to theaters.” I’m of course glad physical media’s in the offing, but even happier to read these titles “will find a new streaming home on Shout! TV, the company’s digital entertainment platform, where they’ll receive special programming treatment including marathons and viewing events.” By virtue of letting me watch the Chinese Ghost Story trilogy, Johnnie To’s major weepie All About Ah-Long, or David Chung’s vastly underseen Web of Deception, no exaggeration to say it would run neck-and-neck with any other streamer.