More Golden Harvest martial arts action from Shout! Factory!

"Stoner" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Fans of classic kung fu films have every reason to be happy. With the reemergence of news regarding the Weinstein’s and their plans to remake two Shaw Brothers classics (1966′s Come Drink With Me and 1978′s Avenging Eagle), it seems that kung fu movies are slowly finding their way back on the market.

Just recently, Apple’s iTunes Store has added 23 Shaw Brothers titles to their digital download library where you can choose to rent or purchase them in high definition at $3.99 and $7.99, respectively. Many of the titles are either hard to find or currently out of print (see current available titles in the comments section below).

Additionally, Well Go USA has announced two new additions to their Sword Masters series (Well Go’s own line of classic Shaw Brothers titles) that include 1978’s Legend of the Bat and 1977’s Death Duel. After a two year hiatus, this marks the first time Well Go USA has released a Sword Masters title.

It’s not only Shaw Brothers martial arts classics that are finding their way back on the market. In addition to their old school Jackie Chan catalogue, Shout! Factory has released The Bruce Lee Legacy Collection, which introduces all four of Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong movies on the high definition Blu-ray format for the first time (along with 3 documentaries and endless amount of extras).

Also, just a few months ago, Warner released a newly-expanded Blu-ray set of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, which marks the iconic film’s 40th Anniversary.

Even smaller production companies are getting in on the action. MVD Visual has just released a Bruce Lee Double Feature that includes A Warrior’s Journey (previously out of print) and the fantastic Pursuit of the Dragon, which is a 90 minute documentary that follows the chronology of Lee’s four films and their filming locations.

Updates: Shout! also has more Golden Harvest classics coming, including a Lady Whirlwind & Hapkido Angela Mao double feature, a Martial Arts Movie Marathon set, featuring The Skyhawk, The Manchu Boxer, The Dragon Tamers (aka Belles of Taekwondo) and The Association – and we’re sure there’s more to come!

During a chat with Screen Daily (via Film Combat Syndicate), Robert Rodriguez revealed that his El Ray Network will be teaming up with Celestial Pictures to release classic Shaw Brothers titles: “We are thrilled to partner with Celestial Pictures on this collection as it is a perfect addition to our existing line-up of renegade programming,” said Rodriguez.

BREAKING NEWS: Today, Shout! Factory announced another batch of Golden Harvest classics, in the form of The Angela Mao Ying 5-Film Collection. This 6 film, 3 disc set includes 1973’s When Taekwondo Strikes, 1974’s The Tournament, 1974’s Stoner, 1976’s The Himalayan, 1976’s A Queen’s Ransom and 1977’s Broken Oath. Other actors who star alongside Mao are 007’s George Lazenby, Bolo Yueng (Enter the Dragon), Sammo Hung (Ip Man 2), Yuen Biao (Dragons Forever) and Carter Huang (Big Trouble in Little China).