Chameleon Films

[yoloswegmaster]

A new label focused on Asian films has been formed in Australia:

We're very excited to share that our new premium Blu-ray label focused on Asian cinema is almost ready to launch.

Our web store is not quite ready to open for pre-orders, but in the meantime we'll soon be able to reveal the first 3 titles that will be released.

The films are all new to Blu-ray in Australia/NZ and complemented with exclusive new special features, archival extras, expert audio commentaries and collector's booklets. Each is designed to catch the eye and look awesome on your shelf, with numbered spines and reversible sleeves in high quality clear cases.

We're really looking forward to hearing from you about our Blu-ray editions and discovering what you'd like to see from us in the future. Your thoughts and feedback are forever welcome and appreciated.

[yoloswegmaster]

Spine #01 - Breaking News



Johnnie To · 2004 · Hong Kong · 90 mins
The premiere of Johnnie To’s Breaking News at Cannes marks the moment when art cinema finally embraced the Hong Kong action genre. Here is a film as intelligent as it is tense as it is well-made. From the breathtaking intricacy of its seven-minute opening take, shot on location in a grungy side street in the New Territories, the complex oppositions that form Hong Kong society are subjected to ruthless scrutiny. The familiar opposition of cops and robbers (led by pop-star Richie Jen) is complicated by a further division between no-nonsense street cops (led by Nick Cheung) and the media-savvy inspector (Kelly Chen).

A stake-out goes wrong and a very public shoot-out leads to an official panic. When the violent, though quietly decent bandits are run to ground in a typically cramped apartment building, it sparks a media circus. Inspector Rebecca Fong (Chen) sees the whole thing as a show, as imagery to be manipulated to her advantage, but the outlaws armed with mobile phones and an internet connection, show that two can play that game. Hong Kong may be a city where media spin is king, but To delves beneath the imagery to the gritty realities that make HK truly unique.

EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Limited first-pressing collector's booklet featuring new essays by film writer Hayley Scanlon and film historian Mike Walsh
• New audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng
• "A Propaganda Duel" - a newly extended video essay on Breaking News
• Newly translated and improved optional English subtitles

Archival Extras:
• Melbourne International Film Festival 2004 Q&A with Johnnie To
• Behind the scenes
• Deleted scene
• Photo gallery
• Theatrical trailer

Technical Specifications:
• 2.35:1
• 1080p colour
• Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1 · LPCM 2.0
• English subtitles
• Region B
• BD-50

Packaged in a Scanavo full sleeved 14mm clear case with a reversible, numbered sleeve that is clean of classification markings and barcode on the alternative side.

Released June/July [TBC] and available to pre-order soon from the Chameleon Films web store

[yoloswegmaster]

Spine #02 - Summertime Machine Blues



Time. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking went on about it forever. But the big questions of time travel remain: who stole Niimi’s shampoo, how might spilling coke on the remote control spell the end of the universe, and perhaps most importantly, how can nerdy guys get to meet girls?

It’s an endlessly hot Japanese summer and the members of the sci-fi club are hanging around waiting out the school vacation. Slowly, small things start not making sense, until a time machine and a dork from the future arrive in their clubhouse, and all of a sudden, the time-space continuum is under threat. Of course, the nature of the threat is never exactly clear, but it will involve a lot of frantic comic complications to put things right.

Director Katsuyuki Motohiro (Bayside Shakedown), is at the top of his game here, constructing a wildly playful and unfailingly inventive film that enjoys cult status among lovers of Japanese youth comedy.

EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Limited first-pressing collector's booklet featuring a new essay by film writer Hayley Scanlon
• Original audio commentary by director Katsuyuki Motohiro & writer Makoto Ueda with newly translated English subtitles
• New interview with writer Makoto Ueda

Archival Extras:
• Theatrical trailers x2

Technical Specifications:
• 1.78:1
• 1080p colour
• Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 · LPCM 2.0
• English subtitles
• Region B
• BD-50

Packaged in a Scanavo full sleeved 14mm clear case with a reversible, numbered sleeve that is clean of classification markings and barcode on the alternative side.

Released June/July [TBC] and available to pre-order soon from the Chameleon Films web store

[therewillbeblus]

That cover is bananas

[ryannichols7]

I need diabolik, orbit, or deep discount to confirm they're stocking these. already in for both of these so far, and glad they aren't exclusively doing genre/genre-adjecent stuff too

[Finch]

I hope this is a label here to stay. Hopefully importcds and diabolikdvd will stock their discs! According to a bluray.com member who knows the man behind Chameleon Films, the second title is the only overlap with another release (in this case, Third Window Films). yoloswegmaster, where did you see the info about the first four titles being all Johnnie To films as this is not the case, now that Spine 2 has been announced as the Motohiro film? And your link has criterionforum.org in front of Chameleon Film's URL.

If we could finally get The Mission in decent shape...!

[yoloswegmaster]

According to the person who created the thread on BR.com, Frank Djeng had supposedly said that he was going to be doing audio commentaries for 4 of their first releases, which were going to be Johnnie To titles.

Diabolik DVD had said on Twitter that they were interested in releasing these titles.

[ryannichols7]

I totally get that kung fu, horror, and crime stuff sells and it's great that other labels (Arrow, 88, Eureka, even Third Window) have found this out, but I feel like there's such a wide disparity of stuff that isn't being released at all. its nice seeing stuff like the Masumura titles from Arrow (which yes, do delve into the three genres I named), To Sleep as so is to Dream, and Execution in Autumn, but if you look at the proportions of releases it feels way too tipped. Criterion has even done pretty okay with Flowers of Shanghai, After Life, Boat People, the Funeral, and Rouge, but I just feel like there's such a wider range that isn't being touched. and this label looks like they're doing it. Johnnie To is a certain seller and good start (as Eureka would agree), but now I really need to see Summertime Machine Blues, a movie I hadn't even heard of before seeing this post. that's the kind of thing I need more of all of these labels to do, and if Chameleon is going to be doing a lot of that, they'll certainly get plenty of my money (as long as the more...US friendly shipping works out, glad to hear Diabolik is interested!)

hell, I wonder what the rights situation are for a lot of the Japanese "masters" in Oceania. could we finally see a lot of the recent Shochiku restorations of Ozu, Oshima, etc see the light of day in English friendly form? or Kadokawa's work on Mizoguchi, et al? since Criterion seems to have basically no interest in getting these out there at all, and the Japanese BDs are often inconsistent with English subtitling or pricing. even Pale Flower, one of my favorite films has a new 4K restoration ready to go that won't be coming out in the US or UK thanks to Criterion having a hold on it and reissuing their old 2010 master again.

and yes, I do know the goal is to bring forth newer/unknown stuff, but as many will likely point out elsewhere, Australia/NZ don't usually get the boutique love and have to pay crazy import prices. here's hoping they get decent editions of a lot of the stuff we in the US/UK/Canada do at afforable rates

[yoloswegmaster]

Spine #03 - Exiled (2006)



Wo (Nick Cheung) unwisely returns to Macau where Boss Fay (Simon Yam) has put a price on his head. His childhood buddy Blaze (Anthony Wong) is given the contract, while another lifelong friend, Tai (Francis Ng) is sworn to defend him. The scene is set for the kind of simmering confrontations that fans of Johnnie To prize so much. As characters loom out of the darkness, the tension is so thick you could pick it up with a pair of chopsticks.

Exiled is undoubtedly the high point of To’s work in the gangster genre. It seizes on elements central to the Hong Kong action film, such as the conflict between loyalty and self-preservation, and the way that male bonding is certainly stronger than death, and maybe even stronger than automatic weapons. It succeeds brilliantly in making these genre elements fresh through Johnnie To’s enormous talent and passion for filmmaking. The film is full of memorable set-pieces where taut confrontation is savoured in the moments before it explodes, and where inventive wide-screen compositions and crisply edited action provide a feast for any cinephile.

EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Limited first-pressing collector's booklet featuring new essays by film historian Stephen Teo and Dylan Cheung
• New audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng
• "The Weight of Honour" - a new video essay on Exiled
• Newly translated and improved optional English subtitles

Archival Extras:
• The Making of Exiled
• Behind the scenes
• Photo gallery
• HK trailers x2
• US trailer

Technical Specifications:
• 2.35:1
• 1080p colour
• Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1 · LPCM 2.0
• English subtitles
• Region B
• BD-50

Packaged in a Scanavo full sleeved 14mm clear case with a reversible, numbered sleeve that is clean of classification markings and barcode on the alternative side.

Released June/July [TBC] and available to pre-order soon from the Chameleon Films web store

[Finch]

Exiled is wonderful, but it's old enough that it could use a 2k/4k restoration. Still, this release looks as good as it can be without a new scan which I imagine is prohibitively expensive for a start-up label. I wonder if Sparrow is next. As far as I know, that film has not had an English-language release, too (though the HK BDs for Exiled and Sparrow have English subs for the feature). I have the HK BDs for both, and happy to upgrade both (if indeed Sparrow is the third To title). A Hero Never Dies would be a great choice for the fourth film but I don't think it's even been released on HK home video? The Heroic Trio is coming from Criterion and I gather that Chameleon Films want to do overlap as much as possible.

[Glowingwabbit]

Exiled is wonderful, but it's old enough that it could use a 2k/4k restoration. Still, this release looks as good as it can be without a new scan which I imagine is prohibitively expensive for a start-up label. I wonder if Sparrow is next. As far as I know, that film has not had an English-language release, too (though the HK BDs for Exiled and Sparrow have English subs for the feature). I have the HK BDs for both, and happy to upgrade both (if indeed Sparrow is the third To title). A Hero Never Dies would be a great choice for the fourth film but I don't think it's even been released on HK home video? The Heroic Trio is coming from Criterion and I gather that Chameleon Films want to do overlap as much as possible.

Finch, do you know who owns Exiled and Sparrow in the US or UK? Unless it's a licensing issue I'd think some of the bigger labels would jump on those.

[Finch]

Re Exiled, Optimum had theatrical and DVD for the UK in 2007. Magnolia had the US rights. I have no idea if Studio Canal who acquired Optimum renewed the UK rights, and if Magnolia did the same. My guess is after 14, 15 years, those licenses would be up for grabs. WellGo USA bought Drug War and Three for theatrical and home video, but they haven't released any more Johnnie To since. Sparrow did have a US DVD release from Tai Seng but again, that's likely to be available for another label at this point.

[Finch]

From the FAQ Chameleon released:

* Are you utilising new masters?

The announced films have not been remastered in 4K or recently restored. We are encoding from the best available existing 2K masters supplied by the rightsholders. All supplied elements will be carefully inspected for artefacts and print damage. Any issues that are discovered will be removed or fixed with professional Diamant-Film Restoration software. The feature films will be encoded at the highest possible bitrate, and all the content will be mastered for replication onto dual layer Blu-ray discs.

[Adam X]

yoloswegmaster, where did you see the info about the first four titles being all Johnnie To films as this is not the case, now that Spine 2 has been announced as the Motohiro film?

They’ve also mentioned on social media that more Johnnie To films are forthcoming. I’d imagine they rightly decided it’d be smarter to break up the releases so their first batch isn’t all from the one director/genre, as much as I’m sure that’d make some people very happy.

[Finch]

I'd like to support them directly but Exiled is the only title I've seen beforehand, and Summertime Machine Blues doesn't quite sound like my cup of tea, and $51 including shipping is steep for one title. I may get Exiled from Diabolik or JB Hi-Fi instead or wait and see if there's future announcements I want to bundle Exiled with.

[Adam X]

It’s why I generally always buy in bulk cause it’s just as expensive to ship things to Australia.

[Finch]

Diabolikdvd.com now have the first three titles (Breaking News, Summertime Machine Blues and Exiled) up for pre-orders at $29.99 each.

[Finch]

After a long and winding journey we can finally announce a street date of August 31 for our Blu-ray releases of Breaking News, Summer Time Machine Blues and Exiled.

But keep an eye out, orders may be ready to send from our fulfillment centre in Sydney up to a week earlier so you could receive a shipping notification before the end of the month.

Shipping rates

If you have been waiting for the official release date before pre-ordering, you might want to do so in the next few weeks because our shipping rates might soon be going up a little to offset planned fee increases by our carrier (an inevitable outcome of the pandemic, war and inflation).

We will wait until after the release date before assessing if we need to update the shipping rates and in any case will continue to keep them as low as we reasonably can.

Free domestic shipping at $69 will continue to apply.

Product update

If you haven't been following us on social media you may not be aware that some additional bonus content was added to Exiled after the initial launch:

• Frank Djeng has recorded a second supplemental audio commentary where he goes into more detail about the film's style and themes

• We interviewed co-composer Dave Klotz about his experience scoring Exiled and his career so far working with Hong Kong filmmakers like Johnnie To and Ringo Lam

Coming up

We have already teased our next release in a couple of places. Standby for a proper announcement with more details soon. Johnnie To fans will not be disappointed...



Regarding future release announcements and pre-ordering, we are going to handle things a little differently. Obviously we had a very long pre-order window for the first wave of releases, and we do not wish to burden anyone with that kind of prolonged wait again.

Instead we will reveal new release information at intervals when we have something to show and share, like upcoming titles, key art, supplementary content, full packaging artwork, and so on.

Then we will only open the pre-order window once we are very confident that the release date will be just around the corner.

Staying in touch

We would love to hear from you, especially once some Chameleon discs are in your hands. Feel free to reach out to us via curtis@chameleonfilms.com.au or through our channels if you have any suggestions, questions, pictures of your awesome physical media collections, ideas for original bonus content, or whatever else you would like to bring to our attention.

Remember also to check the FAQ, which we will get around to updating with additional responses to various Qs that have arisen since the launch.

Eventually we would like to compose and publish some written content, for instance a piece on why the label was started and what steps were involved in getting it off the ground. Would that be of interest?

Until next time,

Team Chameleon

[Glowingwabbit]

They just announced on twitter a double feature release of Election & Election 2 slated for early 2023.

New release: Johnnie To's acclaimed crime/gangster masterpieces ELECTION & ELECTION 2, presented together in a slipcase edition loaded with extras, and on Blu-ray for the first time in AU/NZ. More details revealed soon. Pre-orders will open closer to the release date early-2023.

[yoloswegmaster]

Now available to preorder and will be coming out in March:

[yoloswegmaster]

[yoloswegmaster]

Next release will be Johnnie To's Sparrow

[Mr Sausage]

Wonderful news! I put it with To Catch a Thief and Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 as visually stunning films where the fun is luxuriating in the effortless style and the masterful way such complicated things can be pulled off with so light a touch.

[domino harvey]

Well, you’ve sold me with those comparisons!

[Finch]

It is a lovely film. When Frank Djeng posted that he was working on a release, I thought it might be Eureka (who may still cover it for the UK) but Chameleon did well by Exiled previously, so I'm thrilled it's finally coming to the West and I can retire the HK Blu-Ray.