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Maltic wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 1:17 pm Btw, I'm not sure why the Johnny To films are MoC, while Tsui Hark, Sammo etc are released under the Eureka Classics banner. Not that it makes a difference to me.

I also agree that what's MoC and what's Eureka seems arbitrary at times. With Johnnie To, however, I wonder if it's because they released Mad Detective very early in the MoC blu-ray days (#2, to be exact), before non-MoC Eureka blu-rays were as common as they are now. And so it would be weird if To were a "Master of Cinema" back then, but not now. Just a theory.

Also weird that Yuen Woo-ping was a master of cinema when he directed Drunken Master but just some guy when he made Iron Monkey

It'll always feel weird because sure enough, there are some additions in the MoC line that basically opens Pandora's Box, but I never expected it to be neither exhaustive nor 100% consistent. I don't expect every Yuen Woo-Ping or Johnnie To movies being in the MoC line because there's one already, just like I don't expect the picks to be fully coherent (there certainly are Classics releases that could have been MoC and vice-versa).

I think it was originally a question of prestige coupled with a matter of project's ressources, MoC getting the lion's share while the Classics line was to relegate either smaller titles or lighter releases. I suppose this simply was the original ideal objectives but the reality of the market, what could be added in terms of extras and how the Classics line grew in terms of pace diverted this split to another path, hence these inconsistent places now.

In particular, I suspect it originally wasn't expected for Eureka to be able to expand that much their number of HK titles, and starting including those titles in the MoC line would have meant not being able to stop to because people would have wondered why these movies were included and not those ones (like we're doing now). Except that it would have meant the MoC line-up suddenly getting 20% new additions being solely HK movies, which I don't think was the original plan for this collection. They also probably couldn't create a specific HK collection because the previous MoC titles would be left out of it.

I'm not sure there is much more to it.

Also, was John Frankenheimer a master of cinema when he directed Seconds but not when he directed Prophecy? Absolutely, yes

tenia wrote:It'll always feel weird because sure enough, there are some additions in the MoC line that basically opens Pandora's Box

Come to think of it, why haven’t MoC ever released a blu of Pandora’s Box? They’ve done plenty of Pabst’s other films.

swo17 wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 3:28 pm Also, was John Frankenheimer a master of cinema when he directed Seconds but not when he directed Prophecy? Absolutely, yes

In a real sad way too. That’s the film that got him in rehab.

My theory is that the decision to release Drunken Master came *before* a bunch of Hong Kong classics fell into their lap, and that event also came into conjunction with the idea to inject a bit more prestige into the label beyond the Masters of Cinema line (a smashing success, I imagine). I figure the Johnnie To films get inducted into the MoC line because To is a much more outré auteur than the other Hong Kong figures; closer to Fruit Chan or Wong Kar Wai than Sammo Hung, Tsui Hark or even John Woo.

Johnnie To's 'Running Out of Time' has been hinted at by Eureka as forthcoming in 2022. Hoping that they release the sequel alongside it.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Mon Dec 27, 2021 2:21 pm Johnnie To's 'Running Out of Time' has been hinted at by Eureka as forthcoming in 2022. Hoping that they release the sequel alongside it.

I hope they release both, as it's unlikely they'd release the sequel separately. Being a Johnnie To title that will be Masters of Cinema as well.

They also hinted at Yuen Woo-ping's Dreadnaught, which will be a Eureka Classics title.

I assume these are both coming from Fortune Star? I wonder if they'll also get Center Stage (Stanley Kwan), Tiger Cage (Yuen Woo-ping), Peking Opera Blues (Tsui Hark), or any of Ringo Lam's 'On Fire' films? I guess they'll try and get whatever they can work with...

I think there is a good chance that the non-HK rights to Peking Opera Blues are with that real estate company that is holding the John Woo titlea hostage.

Eureka's hints for 2022 releases continues, this time hinting at a release for 'Hapkido'. The last 3 titles that have been hinted ('Lady Whirlwind', 'The Shaolin Plot' and 'Hapkido') were all directed by the Wong Fung, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Wong Fung boxset, akin to the Joseph Kuo set.

I want an Angela Mao boxset, please.

Running Out Of Time 2 teased in the last tweet for 2021.

Finch wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 4:36 pm Running Out Of Time 2 teased in the last tweet for 2021.

Did I miss Running Out of Time 1 somehow?

Maybe they ran out of time and had to go straight for #2

Michael Kerpan wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 8:46 pm

Finch wrote: Fri Dec 31, 2021 4:36 pm Running Out Of Time 2 teased in the last tweet for 2021.

Did I miss Running Out of Time 1 somehow?

It should be a double feature release.

Announced on Twitter:

New Announcements Coming! The announcement will take place at 3pm GMT Thurs 27 January

These are for April titles. The picture which I didn't copy over is obviously from Dreadnaught which was already teased.

Leaked by Amazon:

Spoiler

Three Monster Tales Of Sci Fi Terror (Masters of Cinema)
Dreadnaught (Eureka Classics)
Knockabout (EUreka Classics)

George Waggner, Johm Sherwood, and Jack Arnold are the credited directors of the Monsters box, and the actors are Lon Chaney Jr, Lionel Atwill, and Grant Williams. I assume the films are Man Made Monster (Waggner and all the actors listed), either The Monolith Monsters or The Creature Walks Among Us (Sherwood), and It Came From Outer Space, The Space Children, Monster on the Campus, or Tarantula (Arnold).

Another MoC-less month.

ChunkyLover wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:54 pm Another MoC-less month.

Spoiler

Three Monster Tales Of Sci Fi Terror (Masters of Cinema)

Glowingwabbit wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:55 pm

Spoiler

Three Monster Tales Of Sci Fi Terror (Masters of Cinema)

The Amazon listing states it as being a "Classics".

I'm positive it was Masters of Cinema when I first saw it, but it's definitely Eureka Classics now.

do we start to get worried here? doubling down on the HK releases but not offering an MOC title aside from a reissue is something of a telling sign. not to entirely restart the discussion we've had in this very thread before, but something does feel off about this

If Yuen Woo-ping isn't a master, who is?

ryannichols7 wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:14 pm do we start to get worried here? doubling down on the HK releases but not offering an MOC title aside from a reissue is something of a telling sign. not to entirely restart the discussion we've had in this very thread before, but something does feel off about this

At this point I'd be fine with them just doing a single line similar to what Arrow did. Obviously the HK stuff has become a big seller for them and some of it absolutely should be on the "Master of Cinema" line. The line distinguishing the two brands is just silly at this point in my opinion.