The Project A Collection is a collection of two films directed by Jackie Chan released between 1983 & 1987. They were one of many that have helped push Jackie Chan and his friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao into international fame with their martial arts, comedic scenes and their stunt work.
A few years ago, UK distributor Eureka Entertainment released four of Jackie Chan’s films onto Blu-ray with new restorations; those being Police Story, Police Story 2, Project A and Project A Part II with their very own double film limited edition and standard edition box sets. The standard edition sets were my first proper introduction to Jackie Chan’s work from his Hong Kong line-up of films and were really entertaining, from both the story and the action scenes throughout. The Project A films also introduced me to both Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao so whenever I saw these actors films make an appearance later I make sure to pick them up.
Now we have reached the point to where 4K releases are slowly making their appearance for the Hong Kong cinema, and in a surprise move 88 Films have picked up the United States and Canadian rights for both Project A and Project A Part II, while Eureka Entertainment still holds the United Kingdom and Ireland licenses (their release was based on the older 2K restoration). Since Eureka apparently have no plans to re-release these two films onto 4K Ultra HD, I decided to pick up 88 Films’ deluxe limited edition set which arrived a whole month earlier than its release date.
Background:
Jackie Chan, also known as Chan Kong-sang (陳港生) and Fang Shilong (房仕龍), was born in Hong Kong in 1954. Learning and excelling in martial arts and acrobatics at a young age, he later went to a performance and acting school where he also met both Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, with all three joining the film industry after. Jackie Chan also learned more skills including Hapkido and Kung Fu.
While Bruce Lee’s 1972 film Fist of Fury was one of his most notable earlier appearances as a stunt double, it was Yuen Woo-ping’s 1978 film Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow where it became his breakthrough role. Jackie starred in numerous acting roles with both Lo Wei Motion Picture Company and Golden Harvest companies as well as directing with 1979’s The Fearless Hyena, 1980’s The Young Master and 1985’s Police Story. Jackie Chan, much like Donnie Yen and Jet Li, also joined Hollywood with other acting roles for western films including Hal Needham’s 1984 film Cannonball Run II, Brett Ratner’s 1998 film Rush Hour and Frank Coraci’s 2004 film Around the World in 80 Days.
Here we have two films in The Project A Collection.
Project A (A計劃, “A” Jìhuà), directed and written by Jackie Chan and released in December 1983. The film was co-written by Edward Tang, music composed by Michael Lai, and produced by Leonard Ho and Raymond Chow with distribution by Golden Harvest. The film starred Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Kwan Hoi-san, Dick Wei, Lee Hoi-san, Cheung Wing-fat and many more. The film’s original name was going to be Pirate Patrol.
Project A Part II (A計劃續集, A Jìhuà Xùjí), directed and written by Jackie Chan and released in August 1987. The film was co-written by Edward Tang, music composed by Michael Lai, and produced by Leonard Ho and Raymond Chow with distribution by Golden Harvest. The film starred Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Bill Tung, Rosamund Kwan, David Lam, Carina Lau, Chan Wai-man, Cheung Wing-fat and many more.
About 88 Films:
88 Films is an independent UK distributor for Asian Cinema, Italian Cinema, Horror, Cult Classics and Action. Their line-up of films in the Asian Cinema scene includes the works of Corey Yuen (The Bodyguard from Beijing, Righting Wrongs), Herman Yau (Ebola Syndrome, The Untold Story), Lau Kar-leung (The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, The Shadow Boxing), Li Han-Hsiang (The Beauty of Beauties, Facets of Love), Lo Wei (New Fist of Fury, To Kill with Intrigue), Nam Nai Choi (Erotic Ghost Story, Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), Wong Jing (God of Gamblers, Last Hero in China) and many more.
The distributor in recent years expanded their distribution to North America to support them with more releases including newer releases from their Shaw Brothers range but also US exclusive releases including In the Line of Duty I-IV, Police Story 3: Supercop and Project A Collection. Their upcoming UK line-up includes Corey Yuen’s The Legend Of Fong Sai Yuk Collection in 4K Ultra HD, Kazuo Komizu’s Gaira’s Guts Trilogy box set, Lo Wei’s Magnificent Bodyguards in Blu-ray 3D, Ronny Yu’s Legacy of Rage and more.
Deluxe Limited Edition Contents:
Considering the Project A films are among one of the most loved in the Jackie Chan Hong Kong catalogue, 88 Films of course went ahead with the deluxe limited edition treatment and it’s a very nice package overall.
The release is presented in a rigid box, and housed inside are two slim 4K Ultra HD cases (one for each film) with six double-sided collectable art cards (three for each film), alongside a 100-page book and two double-sided foldout posters (one for each film). Artist “Kung Fu” Bob O’Brien returns for the box art, case covers and poster designs. All of them look great.
The book features two written essays; ‘Labor of Love: Jackie’s PLAN A Worked Out’ by Thorsten Boose and ‘Project A, No Plan B: A Look into how Project A I & II defined the Jackie Chan 1980s style’ by Paul Bramhall, as well as ‘Someone Will Know Me: An interview with Assistant Director Roberta Chow’ alongside photos and poster artwork from the films.
The SRP is £64.99 (about $85) and has an unspecified print run. Once the print run is out of stock, this edition won’t be available. 88 Films will provide a standard edition which I expect the two films will be released separately and without any slipcases or physical items.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork and Amaray packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by “Kung Fu” Bob O’Brien
- 100-page book featuring new writing by Thorsten Boose & Paul Bramhall
- 6 double-sided collectable art cards
- 2 double-sided foldout posters
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: 88 Films
Released: 15th October 2024
The deluxe limited edition release for The Project A Collection contains Project A and Project A Part II on a single 4K Ultra HD disc and single Blu-ray disc each, with a few versions available alongside multiple audio languages and subtitle options.
Starting with Project A, the film was remastered in 4K from the original negatives for both the original Hong Kong version and the Extended Taiwanese Cut. Both versions also support Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K Ultra HD disc. Audio options available include Dolby Atmos and Mono for both Cantonese & Mandarin, each with newly translated English subtitles, plus the English dub presented in mono (with Mandarin inserts applied for extended scenes in the Taiwanese cut).
For Project A Part II, the film was remastered in 4K from the original negatives for both the original Hong Kong version and the Export Cut. Both versions also support Dolby Vision HDR on the 4K Ultra HD disc. Audio options available include Dolby Atmos and Mono for Cantonese & Mono for Mandarin, each with newly translated English subtitles, plus the English dub presented in mono for the Export Cut version.
The subtitles included with both films and versions are unlockable during playback. The 4K Ultra HD discs are all region, while the Blu-ray discs are locked to Region A players. Supposedly you can bypass the Blu-ray’s region lock by selecting the Top-Menu button but I’ve not been able to successfully use the trick on my PlayStation 5 and Panasonic players.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | Project A: Cantonese, Mandarin, English Project A Part II: Cantonese, Mandarin, English |
| Audio | Project A – Original Hong Kong Cut: Cantonese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Mandarin Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Project A – Extended Taiwanese Cut: Mandarin Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Cantonese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) (with Mandarin audio mixed in for specific scenes) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (with Mandarin audio mixed in for specific scenes) English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (with Mandarin audio mixed in for specific scenes) Project A Part II – Original Hong Kong Cut: Cantonese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) (Hong Kong Mix) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 “Original” Mono (Hong Kong Mix) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 “Remixed” Mono (Hong Kong Mix) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (Japanese Mix) Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 “Remixed” Mono Project A Part II – Export Cut: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 2.39:1 aspect ratio Dolby Vision HDR |
| Region | All Region |
| Subtitles | Project A – Original Hong Kong Cut & Extended Taiwanese Cut: English Project A Part II – Original Hong Kong Cut: English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 BD-100s |
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Project A: Cantonese, Mandarin, English Project A Part II: Cantonese, Mandarin, English |
| Audio | Project A – Original Hong Kong Cut: Cantonese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Mandarin Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Project A – Extended Taiwanese Cut: Mandarin Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Cantonese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) (with Mandarin audio mixed in for specific scenes) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (with Mandarin audio mixed in for specific scenes) English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (with Mandarin audio mixed in for specific scenes) Project A Part II – Original Hong Kong Cut: Cantonese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) (Hong Kong Mix) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 “Original” Mono (Hong Kong Mix) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 “Remixed” Mono (Hong Kong Mix) Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (Japanese Mix) Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 “Remixed” Mono Project A Part II – Export Cut: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 2.39:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A |
| Subtitles | Project A – Original Hong Kong Cut & Extended Taiwanese Cut: English Project A Part II – Original Hong Kong Cut: English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Project A
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng
- Lunar New Year Introduction (03:32 runtime)
- Hong Kong Trailer
- English Trailer
Disc 2: Project A Part II
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto
- Hong Kong Trailer
- Export Trailer
- Tai Seng Trailer
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Project A
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng
- Interview with Jackie Chan’s Best Stunt Double, Mars Cheung (14:35 runtime)
- Dancing With Danger – Interview with Stunt God Mars Cheung (15:26 runtime)
- Master Killer – Interview with Grandmaster Lee Hoi-san (22:03 runtime)
- The Elusive Dragon – An Interview with Yuen Biao (18:07 runtime)
- The Pirates Den – Interview with Dick Wei (13:57 runtime)
- Can’t Stop the Music – An Interview with Composer Michael Lai (17:27 runtime)
- Project Collector with Paul Dre (16:17 runtime)
- Plan B – Writer Edward Tang on Project A (15:11 runtime)
- Out-takes (24:03 runtime)
- Japanese Version Ending (02:24 runtime)
- The Making of Project A (11:45 runtime)
- Lunar New Year Introduction (03:32 runtime)
- Hong Kong Trailer
- English Trailer
- Stills Gallery
Disc 2: Project A Part II
- Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto
- An Interview with Anthony Carpio (25:25 runtime)
- The Big Boss – An Interview with Chan Wai Man (19:40 runtime)
- Someone Will Know Me – Archive Documentary (13:12 runtime)
- Full Screen Jackie Chan Recording Session (02:33 runtime)
- Hong Kong Trailer
- Export Trailer
- Tai Seng Trailer
- Stills Gallery
- Japanese Ending (03:59 runtime)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The Project A Collection is available to own by 88 Films in a deluxe limited edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack box set over on 88 Films store and Amazon US. A Blu-ray version is also available with the same physical extras.
For Region B owners, Eureka Entertainment’s release (which are based on a 2K restoration) released in 2018 is available to own on Eureka’s store, Amazon UK and Terracotta.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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