UPDATE: EDKO’s Eng-sub ‘Ong Bak 2′ DVD

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News | Home Video | by Mark Pollard

ONG BAK 2

UPDATE: ONG BAK 2 may not be coming out on DVD in Hong Kong this month after all. Some of our forum members first noticed that leading Hong Kong DVD retailers Yesasia.com and DDDHouse.com have both removed release information from their listings. One member was told by DDDHouse staff that, “Distributor EDKO announces ONG BAK 2 will not be released within April.”

This comes literally days after we reported that the DVD was expected to ship with English subtitles in Hong Kong and only yesterday confirmed the news through our retail affiliate HKFlix.com.

There is too little factual information to know the exact reason but it would be fair to speculate that Edko was asked by Magnolia Pictures to remove the English subtitles prior to release. In the past, Hollywood distributors have been known to put pressure on their Hong Kong counterparts to leave English subtitles off of select DVD releases of films in order to limit gray market sales of imports ahead of a later domestic release. Such was the case with CHOCOLATE and the original ONG BAK, both released in Hong Kong without English subtitles and later released by Magnolia in the U.S.

UPDATE: HKFlix.com has confirmed for us that Edko’s Hong Kong edition does in fact come with English subs.

It’s been picked up on several film blogs that Tony Jaa’s ONG BAK 2 is heading to DVD in Hong Kong this week, with English subtitles.

One reason to hold off is that in February Magnolia Pictures announced their acquisition of ONG BAK 2 for North American distribution. They have a good track record of getting Asian films released stateside in a relatively timely fashion and with original language tracks and little or no cuts.

Some may recall that Magnolia released the first ONG BAK, which was cut but not by them. It had been cut by French producer Luc Besson who sold them the rights. Magnolia also released CHOCOLATE earlier this year.

Of course, if North American distribs were serious about doing business then ONG BAK 2 would be releasing in the U.S. this week and not just in Hong Kong. At the very least, I wish I could pass on a release date but as usual, we’re dealing with businesses that are almost always several steps behind consumer demand.

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  • Hai
  • danmye
    The pirating of releases have to stop, period. As for the movie, just bought a copy. Absolutely amazing; better than Yen's Ip Man (I purchased both at the same time), mostly because of Yip Man's wire work(which I hate), Ong Bak's visuals, old school in new bottle martial arts choreograghy, Tony Jaa's screen presence and martial arts skill, the funky Khmer Monkey/Hanuman martial dance in the royal court, which the amazing red/gold color filtering, the Thai weapons, arts and clothing, the various other martial arts, and an obvious love for the martial arts genre and a respect for its fan base. Jaa and company are "The Man," and can only continue to provide excellent works such as this!!!

    Jaa, you go, boy!
  • Peter
    Hi there!

    I really want to see this film and I'm waiting for it to be in the theaters here in my country, though I'm not sure if it finally will be.

    By the way, I found this new show done by the people who brouth us "Ninjai" the on line show and I thought you might like to take a look, so here is the link --> http://karmakula.ign.com/

    Hey! it is better than DB Evolution anyway. :)

    Cheers
  • avenging eagle
    i have the catchplay dvd of ong bak 2 and man the subs are bad. they are a litrell translation, so it does not carry over so well.
  • GwaiLoMoFo
    Bonzai and Red Sun are deffinitely bootleg outfits (most people know this). The 'founder" of Red Sun used to be a member of the old forum. They are "great quality" because they rip the prints off of legit releases. The only thing they actually produce is new cover art.
  • Rhythm-X
    "bonzai media is the same company that produces red sun dvds there not a bootleg company."

    If they produce Red Sun DVDs, that, by definition, makes them a bootleg company.

    "they sell the best martial arts movies in my opinion redsundvd.com is a USA distributor that releases all region dvds and has great quality so there not bootlegs. "

    American distributor, releasing all-region DVDs, in great quality? This is an OBVIOUS bootlegger; if they were a legitimate American company they'd be horribly screwing up most of their titles...
  • kev
    bonzai media is the same company that produces red sun dvds there not a bootleg company they sell the best martial arts movies in my opinion redsundvd.com is a USA distributor that releases all region dvds and has great quality so there not bootlegs.
  • Rhythm-X
    "At the very least, I wish I could pass on a release date but as usual, we're dealing with businesses that are almost always several steps behind consumer demand."

    You'd think that they'd have figured out by now that their main competition isn't other distributors' films, it's time itself. In this day and age, when distributors screw around with delays and nonexistent release dates, the films have a nasty habit of distributing themselves. How many years ago was it that Miramax's marketing department made SHAOLIN SOCCER the most downloaded movie on the Internet by sticking the trailer on every Miramax title out there but never actually releasing the film?

    Are these well-paid professionals still not able to see how this works? Anticipated, publicized import + US distributor + delays = a very well-seeded torrent. It ain't rocket science. "Free and now" will crush "not free and only God knows when" every time. Whether this is good or bad doesn't matter - it's simply fact, to be disregarded at one's own peril.
  • Mackinator
    I just saw it last night. You can tell that the movie was made around the fight scenes. The story was virtually non-existent. I never thought I'd say this about a martial-arts movie, but there is too much fighting in this movie. You grow tired watching it. There is one fight after another and sometimes you have no idea why they are fighting. However, Tony Jaa is in top form. He is a super screen fighter. His moves are awesome and you do see some new and creative moves. The scene where he uses the 3 section staff and the sword is truly impressive. He's so fast. I had to watch most of the scenes twice. This is not a movie I'd watch from beginning to end again considering there's almost no story, but maybe I'd just skip to my favorite fight scenes. Although, there are too many to choose from...
  • derwhood
    I have seen 3 different english subtitled dvd's of this film and each one is shockingly bad, which doesn't help the film as it is average at best
  • Billeh
    The only thing harder then getting this movie finished it seems, is getting it released!
  • Rhythm-X
    I'm sure it will be out not long after Magnolia releases TRIANGLE.
  • DragonSword
    There is a subbed version of Ong Bak 2 for sale at Hkdvdstore. Its been for sale since April 2nd.
  • The version at hkDVDstore appears to be a bootleg from Bonzai Media, a well known film pirating outfit. If folks are going to spend $15 at least get the upcoming licensed versions from Edko or Magnolia so Tony Jaa can get funding to make another movie.
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