Jackie has released numerous Hong Kong classics since the 70s and the Police Story series is one the highlights. Unfortunately, HD releases were always a problem: The Hong Kong release by Fortune Star only contains SD upscales of the first three installments. Until now, Police Story 3 - Supercop has never been released outside Asia. At least not uncut but there are a few cut releases on Blu-ray, e.g. in the US (comparison).

Police Story

In 2012, the original Police Story (1985) was released on Blu-ray in Japan. The release contains the movie in HD and it was scanned from a movie role. But what makes the Japanese Blu-ray really interesting is the Japanese Extended Version (comparison). Unfortunately, the Blu-ray contains hardcoded Japanese subtitles and no English audio/subtitles. One more reason to be thrilled that L'Immagine Ritrovata and later on also Fortune Star confirmed a 4K restoration which was screened in theaters in March 2018 in New York. On 08/20/2018, the 4K restoration will be released on Blu-ray for the very first time. Eureka! will release it in the UK - including English audio/subtitles. Also announced for said release are the original Cantonse Mono audio track and an additional 5.1 upmix. Luckily, the audio track with weirdly edited sound effects will be ignored. In addition to that, the alternate opening and end sequence of the Japanese Extended Version will be available as part of the bonus features. A nice curiousity worth its own comparison is the old US Version called Police Force with a length of approx. 90 minutes. Also, the score has been altered and it got its own English dub which is still quite popular among fans.

Police Story 2

The limited Blu-ray box set will also contain the sequel Police Story 2 - also based on a new 4K restoration for the very first time. Oddly enough, the Japanese Extended Version (comparison) has been the more common one in the past few years and this is also the version that has been restored. This will be the first time the Japanese Extended Version is being released in the UK because every single UK release so far contains the Original Hong Kong Theatrical Version which does not appear to available on the upcoming release. However, the longest version seems to be available and that is what counts.

The extras are as follows:

• UK Blu-ray on Amazon.co.uk