May
24, 2006
For
Immediate Release:

THE
WEINSTEIN COMPANY BUILDS A "DRAGON DYNASTY"
Bob
and Harvey Weinstein to Build the Largest Library of Asian Cinema in
North America
TWC Licenses a Package of Asian Titles from Fortune Star Entertainment
Brian White Named Director of Asian Brand Management and Post Production
NEW
YORK, NEW YORK (May 23, 2006) - Continuing their passionate dedication
to bringing Asian films to American audiences, Bob and Harvey Weinstein
are proud to announce the unveiling of Dragon Dynasty, the dynamic new
label under which all The Weinstein Company's Asian titles will be released,
including "Ong Bak 2," "The Protector" (aka "Tom
Yum Goong"), "Born to Fight", "SPL", "Seven
Swords" and "Dragon Squad", as well as a package of high
profile titles, which was licensed from Fortune Star Entertainment:
the distribution division of News Corporation's STAR Group which owns
the world's largest contemporary Chinese language feature film library.
The 43 Fortune Star titles, together with a special collection of 50
classic Shaw Brothers' movies and a number of independent acquisitions,
including John Woo's seminal productions, "The Killer", "Hardboiled",
"Bullet in the Head" and "A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2",
combine to make The Weinstein Company the leader in Asian Cinema in
North America.
Quentin Tarantino, who is well recognized for his passionate interest
and broad knowledge of Asian cinema, will actively work with the Weinsteins
in all aspects of brand development for Dragon Dynasty.
The Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty library already includes films
starring some of Asia's hottest actors such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li,
Stephen Chow, Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh and Sammo Hung, as well as titles
from legendary filmmakers John Woo, Yuen Woo-ping and Corey Yuen Kwai,
amongst others. The company has ambitious plans to continue building
the library, and will be acquiring titles across all genres of Asian
film such as contemporary action, martial arts, epic swordplay and hi-octane
thriller. The titles selected for theatrical distribution will be released
by The Weinstein Company, and all home video output will be managed
by Genius Products, Inc. (OTCBB: GNPI).
The Weinsteins originally acquired the collection of Shaw Brothers'
movies during their tenure at Miramax Films and brought the titles with
them to The Weinstein Company as part of their settlement agreement
with the Walt Disney Studios.
The Weinstein Company will redefine the presentation of Asian Cinema
on DVD, and is developing a number of Special Edition packages for its
new brand, including 2-Disc Platinum Editions of Jet Li's world-acclaimed
"Fist of Legend" and "Tai Chi Master". Each Dragon
Dynasty DVD will possess a unique and carefully crafted identity, and
will include many groundbreaking, informative and exclusive special
bonus features such as rare behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes,
out-takes, and specially commissioned documentaries and interviews featuring
cast members, filmmakers and celebrity enthusiasts of Asian film.
Peter Poon, General Manager of Fortune Star, stated, "Fortune Star
is excited to work with TWC and their specialized team in bringing our
popular titles at the highest quality for DVD release to the US market.
The launch of Dragon Dynasty will be a tremendous boost to the Asian
Cinema as it will now have a more powerful access to the American audiences."
Donnie Yen stated, "I'm delighted that my film SPL will be one
of the lead titles for Dragon Dynasty. Harvey has put a great team together
for the brand, and I look forward to collaborating with them on the
upcoming release of Seven Swords. Finally, we Asian action film-makers
have a proper platform to present our work to the international audience."
Sammo Hung stated, "I hope this new label brings more fans to our
films, so that we have an even bigger audience in the future. I'm very
happy to see SPL, Dragon Squad and some of my older films released by
Dragon Dynasty. I'm a heavy hitter myself, and its good to see
TWC throwing its weight behind our industry!"
Harvey Weinstein stated, "Bob and I are extremely passionate about
Asian Cinema and have always been enormous fans of Asian filmmakers
from Akira Kurosawa to John Woo. We started building a library of Asian
titles years ago and hope to continue adding to it for years to come.
Bob and I are proud to launch Dragon Dynasty and hope to continue bringing
Asian cinema the recognition it deserves. Alan Bergman and the Disney
team have been incredibly cooperative with the collection of Shaw Brothers'
movies.
Brian White stated, "I am really excited to be building the Dragon
Dynasty brand with Harvey and Bob. Their passion and dedication to the
genre is really quite extraordinary, and our collective goal is to produce
imaginative, visually-dynamic, feature-laden DVD titles, which are designed
to take the presentation of the genre to a new level of excellence,
and bring to the widest possible audience all that is special and unique
in the World of Asian Cinema."
The Weinsteins also announced today that Brian White has been named
Director of Asian Brand Management and Post-production for The Weinstein
Company's Dragon Dynasty. Brian White will work closely with Hong Kong
based Executive Vice President of Asian Acquisitions and Co-production,
Bey Logan, on all Asian acquisitions, on identifying projects for Dragon
Dynasty, and will be charged with overseeing all aspects of the new
brand. White will also be responsible for all creative aspects of the
development and construction of the Dragon Dynasty DVD titles. White
is based in London, and will report to both Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
Prior to The Weinstein Company, White served as Brand Manager and DVD
Producer at Contender Entertainment Group and with Medusa Communications
& Marketing Ltd. As brand architect, White played a pivotal role
in the creation of the acclaimed Hong Kong Legends label in 1999 with
Medusa Communications & Marketing Ltd, before launching sister label
Premier Asia, a brand dedicated to the cinema of Japan, Korea and Thailand,
in 2003. As a Brand Manager, he was instrumental to the ongoing commercial
success of Hong Kong Legends and Premier Asia, spearheading the acquisition,
marketing and PR strategies, and creating a unique 'positioning strategy'
for the brands, which generated millions of units sold. As a DVD Producer,
White has produced over 120 DVD titles for Hong Kong Legends, Medusa,
Premier Asia, and Contender Home Entertainment Group. Beginning in 1999,
working with the team at Medusa, he also pioneered a restoration program
for the classics of Hong Kong Cinema, including the Golden Harvest Bruce
Lee titles, thus creating a new benchmark standard for the presentation
of Asian Cinema titles on DVD.
The
Weinsteins have been involved with many highly acclaimed and financially
successful Asian titles in the past including the record box office
hit Hero, the Academy Award nominee Farewell my Concubine,
Iron Monkey, the animated hit Princess Mononoke,
the Japanese version of Shall we Dance, Jet Lis The
Master, Twin Warriors, The Enforcer, The
Legend of the Swordsman, The Legend, The Legend
II, and Fist of Legend, Shaolin Soccer, starring
Stephen Chow, The Accidental Spy, The Legend of Drunken
Master, Twin Dragons, Operation Condor,
Supercop 1 and 2, all starring Jackie Chan, along with Temptress
Moon, and Chungking Express, among many others.
ABOUT FORTUNE STAR ENTERTAINMENT
Fortune Star Entertainment is the feature film and television programming,
production, and distribution division of STAR, Asia's leading media
and entertainment company. Fortune Star distributes the world's largest
contemporary Chinese language feature film library, including over 600
titles featuring Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li, Michelle
Yeoh, and renowned filmmakers John Woo, Yuen Woo Ping and Ronny Yu.
Fortune Star also distributes STAR's television library of over 20,000
hours of top-rated Indian and Chinese programming. Fortune Star produces
feature films and high-definition movies and will be developing new
content businesses including wireless platform. Some of the titles acquired
for Dragon Dynasty from Fortune Star includes "Police Story",
"Police Story 2", "Crime Story," starring Jackie
Chan, "Royal Tramp 1" and "Royal Tramp 2," starring
Stephen Chow ("Shaolin Soccer," "Kung Fu Hustle"),
"Millionaires Express," starring Sammo Hung (from the television
show "Martial Law"), "Righting Wrongs / Above the Law,"
directed by acclaimed action-director Corey Yuen, and "Love Asia,"
Fortune Star produced with and starring Maggie Q ("Mission Impossible
3").
ABOUT THE SHAW BROTHERS' TITLES
The Celestial Shaw Brothers' library encompasses approximately 760 films,
including the world's largest collection of Chinese-language motion
pictures and many classics of Hong Kong cinema, which have all gone
through a state-of-the-art digital restoration process. Many of the
world's most famous Chinese actors and directors worked at Shaw and
the library represents the legacy of legendary impresario Sir Run Run
Shaw. Some of The Weinstein Company's Shaw Brother's titles include
"36th Chamber of Shaolin," "Eight Diagram Pole Fighter,"
and "Heroes of the East," all starring Gordon Liu ("Kill
Bill"), "King Boxer," the first Hong Kong movie ever
to be a worldwide theatrical hit, "Martial Arts of Shaolin,"
a classic title from Jet Li, "Come Drink With Me," starring
Cheng Pei-pei ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon").
ABOUT GENIUS PRODUCTS, INC
Genius Products, Inc. (OTCBB:GNPI), produces and distributes an ever-expanding
library of home entertainment products including DVDs and CDs. Sold
in retail outlets nationwide under such well-known brands as Wellspring,
Sundance Channel Home EntertainmentT, NBC News, and Baby Genius®,
the company's products are distributed through the Genius Products Branded
Distribution Network, an extensive, proprietary distribution network
that extends throughout the U.S. to mass, drugstore, supermarket and
specialty retailers. Genius Products recently released on home video
The Weinstein Company smash hits, HOODWINKED, the animated family comedy
which ranked #1 in consumer sales in its debut week, DERAILED, starring
Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen, which ranked #1 in rentals in its debut
week, and WOLF CREEK, an Australian horror film, DOOGAL, a comical animated
adventure with the voices of Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg
and William H. Macy; as well as the Oscar nominated film, MRS. HENDERSON
PRESENTS, starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins.
Genius Products boasts a premiere management team comprised of seasoned
executives, formerly with major Hollywood studios, who have steered
the company into the forefront of the industry through their landmark
exclusive distribution deal with The Weinstein Company.
Upcoming films planned for release by Genius Products include films
by The Weinstein Company such as THE MATADOR, starring Pierce Brosnan;
TRANSAMERICA, starring Felicity Huffman; David Zucker's hilarious new
sequel, SCARY MOVIE 4; and THE LIBERTINE, starring Johnny Depp. Potential
new releases include a sequel to SIN CITY, SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS, CLERKS
II and the highly anticipated film BOBBY.
ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY AND DIMENSION FILMS
The Weinstein Company (TWC) was created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein,
the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corporation in 1979. TWC is a
multi-media company that officially launched on October 1, 2005. Dimension
Films, the genre label that was founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, is
also included under the TWC banner.
Since launching on October 1, 2005, The Weinstein Company and Dimension
Films have released "Derailed," "Wolf Creek," "Transamerica,"
"The Matador," "The Libertine," "Mrs. Henderson
Presents," "Hoodwinked," "Doogal" and "Scary
Movie 4."
"Lucky Number Slevin," a Weinstein Company presentation, was
released on April 7th by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM).
Upcoming Weinstein Company films to be domestically distributed in theaters
by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) are; "Clerks II," the
sequel to writer/director Kevin Smith's 1994 Sundance favorite "Clerks;"
"Stormbreaker," based on the 1st book in the Alex Rider teenage
superspy series by best selling author Anthony Horowitz; "Bobby,"
the political-culture drama with an all star ensemble cast; "Breaking
& Entering," by Academy Award winning director Anthony Minghella,
starring Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn and Vera Farmiga;
"Killshot," from Academy Award winning director John Madden
starring Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Rosario Dawson, and
Johnny Knoxville; and "Miss Potter," the Beatrix Potter biopic.
Other upcoming films to be released by The Weinstein Company and Dimension
Films include: "Pulse," a remake of a Japanese horror film
starring Kristen Bell, Christina Milian, and Ian Somerhalder; "DOA:
Dead or Alive," based on Tecmo's best-selling "Dead or Alive"
videogame franchise; "School for Scoundrels," a hilarious
remake of the classic 1959 comedy directed by Todd Phillips and starring
Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder; "Superhero!" a spoof on
the latest trend of comic-book inspired films; and "Grind House,"
a groundbreaking film that will unite two of the world's most legendary
filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
During the Weinsteins' tenure at Miramax Films the company released
some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful independent
feature films, including fifteen Best Picture nominations and three
Best Pictures of the Year for "The English Patient," Shakespeare
In Love" and "Chicago." The films, which received 249
Academy Award® nominations and won 60 Oscars®, have generated
billions of dollars in worldwide box office receipts and billions more
in home video sales. In its history, Dimension Films has released some
of the most successful franchises including "Scream," "Spy
Kids" and "Scary Movie."
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