By Mark Pollard | Published November 24, 2008

UPDATE: The Weinstein Company has issued a statement regarding the state of Dragon Dynasty’s release schedule and to counter any suggestion that the label is going out of business, something I did not intend to suggest in the following article. In response, I have altered or removed a couple lines that could be described as entirely speculative and potentially misleading.

Citing the general tone of the article and its assessment of Dragon Dynasty, as well as a write up on another blog that shall remain unnamed, Bey Logan, The Weinstein Company’s Vice President of Asian Acquisitions & Co-Production denied any suggestion that Dragon Dynasty is “going under” and stated that none of the Dragon Dynasty staff were laid off in TWC’s recent cut backs. He went on to address concerns about the label’s release schedule and offer assurances that more titles are on the way.

“We have been taking stock, both as The Weinstein Company and as Dragon Dynasty, after our first cycle of business. We now have a very solid idea of what sells, and what does not, in the North American market, and we’re adjusting our acquisition and release plans accordingly.”

“We have SUPERCOP ready for release. I have already recorded a commentary and shot interviews with Jackie and Stanley for it. We have PROTEGE and JET LI’S THE ENFORCER (aka MY FATHER IS A HERO) ready to go, and I’m recording commentaries for them next week. We have further Shaw titles, further Harvest ones, EMPRESS AND HER WARRIORS, and a bunch of classic Jet Li films to release, and we are still aggressively pursuing titles for acquisition.”

Logan’s public statement confirms that Dragon Dynasty will be kicking out more titles in 2009. Off the record, he also gave credible reasons for why a couple of the label’s previously announced titles have been indefinitely delayed. While this is all reassuring, there is still reason to be concerned about Dragon Dynasty’s future in an increasingly uncertain environment.

The future is not looking bright for home video label Dragon Dynasty and its upcoming slate of Asian action releases. From a dwindling release schedule and distributor Genius Products’ stock dip to mere pennies per share to parent entity The Weinstein Company’s legal and commercial setbacks as well as the current state of the economy and the home video market in general, the label is facing tough challenges heading into its third year in operation.

The most immediate concern is that Dragon Dynasty’s release schedule has practically ground to a halt. After a slow start late in 2006, DD hit a relatively stable stride the following year by releasing on average two movies per month despite some delays. This included a mix of classic titles such as KING BOXER and ABOVE THE LAW and new releases like DRAGON SQUAD and CITY OF VIOLENCE. Their price point was high and collectors grumbled about poor subtitle translations and similar technical details that failed to meet expectation but the label’s strength remained its impressive collection of bonus content packaged with each release along with a reliably professional presentation.

Then in 2008, the schedule slowed to roughly one title per month with more delays, yet we still saw some of DD’s best output with feature-rich reissues of FIST OF LEGEND and two more Shaw Brothers classics, as well as Donnie Yen’s FLASH POINT.

By third quarter, the label stalled altogether and nothing has been seen since THE REBEL in September, this being their best release in two years of operation. POLICE STORY 3: SUPERCOP is supposedly coming in early 2009, which would nicely cap releases of the two previous movies in the series. However, dozens of other acquisitions including John Woo’s THE KILLER, Golden Harvest’s HAPKIDO, and over 40 Shaw Brothers classics remain in limbo.

Taking a broader view, DD’s outlook looks worse. Most recently, TWC has laid off 24 jobs or 11% of its staff in the wake of the rising economic crisis which is now having an impact on Hollywood. Variety reports that cuts took place in all departments including the U.K. and Hong Kong, although no offices or departments were closed.

Genius Products, distributor of the Dragon Dynasty titles, as well as a slew of other labels including IFC Films and Tartan Films, has seen its shares in stock lose over half their value this year. TWC owns 70% of this company and had envisioned the venture being a source of supplemental income to bolster their main theatrical distribution arm. Now it’s looking more like a money pit but that’s not the only headache for Harvey Weinstein.

Harvey Weinstein is embroiled in a messy court case over the hit reality TV series PROJECT RUNWAY that is keeping it off the air. A VIP social networking site he set up is floundering. A fashion label he co-owns is getting weak reviews. A pop culture internet and cable TV venture he planned with Jay-Z and Sean “Puffy” Combs has suffered a stillbirth.

Some critics suggest that Weinstein, once an indie movie powerhouse in Hollywood and Oscar magnet who shared in the breakout successes of hipster filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, is spreading himself too thin by getting involved in too many different ventures too quickly. This may be having some impact on Weinstein’s commitment to releasing Asian action films on home video and we may be seeing the effects now. Yet a slow economy also means less home video sales in general and a drop in DVD sales has been a trend for several years now, even before the economic crisis hit.

This trend comes at a difficult time when audiences are still waiting for the next generation of international Asian action talents to step in to take the place of aging stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat. A reality that dedicated genre fans and film collectors need to face is that without fresh blood to attract new audiences – even in a healthy economy – the market for classic martial arts and action films on home video will continue to shrink, forcing investors to put their money elsewhere and opportunitistic bootleggers to continue to drive what’s left of the genre into a second-rate video hell.

As much as I enjoy the bonus content on Dragon Dynasty releases I believe it is essential that given the current state of the home video market, the label needs to scale back their operation and focus on getting quality discs released on time and consistently while at a price point that is competitive. That means an SRP of no more than $15 with bonus content that adds no cost or delays. If they are able, TWC needs to license their Asian films to Netflix so Xbox360 and PC owners can watch these films on demand. Cable and HD TV licensing should also be optioned if that hasn’t happened already. If all else fails, TWC should sell off Asian film assets to another company with a more stable and conservative business model.

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Dragon Dynasty