As if you needed a reason to go back to the movies and see a John Woo classic on the big screen…
Tickets are on sale for a spell of limited theatrical 4K re-releases for three of the director’s greatest hits: Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, and The Killer. Shout! Studios is ramping up the campaign via their Hong Kong Cinema Classics initiative, in association with GKids Films with a listing of up to 800 theater locations across the U.S., as revealed by Collider‘s Jeff Ewing on Wednesday.
The films, collectively featuring screen legends Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, and Danny Lee in their respective credits, got limited releases earlier this year as Shout! prepped its home release campaign on digital and physical mediums. Of course, limited runs means a very short window for folks who didn’t get to enjoy these films in a theatrical setting, so if you’re reading this and you missed out this year, now’s your chance to head over to GKids and grab a ticket today.
Shout! Studios, a Radial Entertainment Company, Hong Kong Cinema Classics, and GKIDS are proud to announce a national theatrical release of three HONG KONG CINEMA CLASSICS movies. Starting January 2026, John Woo’s renowned films Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow and The Killer will return to theaters nationwide for a limited engagement, providing fans and cinephiles the opportunity to experience some of the best films from this remarkable era in cinematic history on the big screen.
Tickets are now on sale for all three films, with Hard Boiled kicking off the event for three nights only on January 25, 26, and 28. Newly restored and remastered in 4K, each film will be presented on approximately 800 screens nationwide in all major markets, making this the widest North American theatrical release these movies have ever received. Each film will be followed by prerecorded interviews with John Woo discussing each title in detail.
Shout! Studios, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Film Archives, has been working diligently to restore and remaster these films, all scanned in stunning 4K from the original camera negatives. The video and audio have been restored, and the subtitles have been newly translated from the original Cantonese. In 2025, in collaboration with GKIDS, Shout! Studios and Hong Kong Cinema Classics organized a highly successful series of retrospective bring-backs of numerous titles. This nationwide retrospective expands their partnership on a national scale.
