Back in 2001 Asian film fans took on Disney - AND WON!

[chat_noir]

Background: Miramax has come under criticism from foreign film fans for its editing, dubbing, and replacing the soundtracks of various foreign films it releases. One notable example is Iron Monkey, which though released subtitled, had its subtitles altered to remove the political context of the story, had scenes trimmed and changed for violence and pacing, and had the soundtrack changed, removing the famous Wong Fei Hung theme. Other films that they have altered in this way include Shaolin Soccer, Farewell My Concubine (theatrical release) and Jet Li's Fist of Legend, which was released both edited and dubbed, with no option to watch the DVD subtitled. The Weinsteins' Miramax also had a history of buying the rights to Asian films only to sit on them without releasing them for some years, while trying to bar retailers from selling authentic imported DVDs of the films.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miramax_Films


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http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?warth...


We Won!

Miramax has announced the R1 release (finally!) of Shaolin Soccer. It is planned to include the full, uncut Cantonese version of the film. They have even mentioned the petitions by fans for this version in their ads.

http://alliance.hellninjacommando.net /



http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2004/06/miramaxs_shaolin_soccer_dvd_to_include_original_cantonese_version.html


Miramax released an edited version of Shaolin Soccer in the US market on April 2, 2004. Missing over 20 minutes of footage, and featuring English dubbing, the Miramax release came under heavy criticism from Hong Kong film fans (not to mention box office failure from people who had bought the import DVD three years earlier), leading the studio to reinstate both the excised footage and the original Chinese language audio as a viewer option for the US DVD release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Soccer

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

1. Although they've just released a hacked version of Tony Jaa's film

Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector) in the US under their new Tarantino approved label. It's cut by about 25 minutes, parts of the plot have been altered, some of the soundtrack has been changed (with Tarantino favorite RZA tracks) and some of the English dialogue has been dubbed to make it easier to understand (ala Mad Max). Harvey Scissorhands is still earning his moniker.