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■ Shaw Brothers
Shaw Brothers was a legendary Hong Kong film studio, run by the Shaw family (especially Run Run Shaw), famous for its prolific output and pioneering the global popularity of martial arts (kung fu) films, operating like a factory with in-house stars and massive sets at its “Movietown” studio, creating iconic films like The One-Armed Swordsman and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, influencing cinema worldwide from the 1960s to the 1980s before shifting focus to television

You probably didn’t know this unless you collect Shaw Brothers movies, like I do… but starting in 2026, Shout Factory, the producer of the Shaw Brothers Classics boxsets, stopped selling discs from their webstore. Instead, all physical media were now being sold through one of their partner, Gruv.

So, what this means is that some boxsets or movies that were once exclusive to Shout Factory’s webstore are not being offered to the general public. Gruv got a timed exclusive to sell them direct, but now it appears the exclusives are going to be available on other retail stores – including Amazon, starting in July. I am happy for the change, because I get free next-day (or two days at the most) shipping… which is a huge cost in savings for me.

I first mentioned these two exclusive Shout Factory boxsets in Sep 2023: “ I should also point out that there are two Shout Factory-exclusive releases: The Brave Archer Collection (2023-04-18), an Alexander Fu Sheng four-film set for $70, and The Ti Lung / David Chiang Collection (2023-09-26), a massive collection for $170.”

The Brave Archer Collection

I hate to say this, but I am not a fan of The Brave Archer series. I think Shaw Brothers made four of these movies, and they are all stinkers, in my opinion, so I don’t know why fans love this series? I think the appeal is to see actor and superstar Alexander Fu Sheng in the lead role of the Brave Archer… but, in my opinion, the plot and storyline (based on a series of Condor Heroes novels by Jin Yong) are so bad that I cannot watch it.

The cool thing is that this Shout Factory boxset collects all the Brave Archer films – including Little Dragon Maiden (the fifth and last Brave Archer film). Little Dragon Maiden is an unofficial sequel and does not star Fu Sheng (Fu Shen died in July 1983, so the role of the Brave Archer was recast to Chen Kuan-tai), and that’s probably why most collection don’t include the last film.

The Brave Archer Collection will be released on July 28, 2026.

Disc 1 – The Brave Archer
Disc 2 – The Brave Archer 2
Disc 3 – The Brave Archer 3
Disc 4 – The Brave Archer and His Mate
Disc 5 – Little Dragon Maiden

I have to mention that I already own four of these Brave Archer films on DVD, and while it would be nice to see them in glorious 1080p, since I don’t like the story, this is low priority for me on my “must-buy” list. Still, I will be keeping an eye on a discount, and if the price is right, I will be happy to add this to my growing Shaw Brothers collection. Currently, the boxset is listed for $60.

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■ Chang Cheh
Chang Cheh was a Chinese filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and producer active in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Chang Cheh directed more than 90 films in Greater China, the majority of them with the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. Most of his films are action films, especially wuxia and kung fu films filled with violence. In the early 1970s he frequently cast actors David Chiang and Ti Lung in his films. In the late 1970s he mainly worked with a group of actors known as the Venom Mob.

The Ti Lung / David Chiang Collection

Ti Lung, David Chiang, and director Chang Cheh, were known as The Iron Triangle, due to their successful films, such as Have Sword, Will Travel (1969), Vengeance (1970), The Deadly Duo (1971)… and many others. Collected here in this The Ti Lung / David Chiang Collection set will be all those films, including other films not directed by Cheh. I’ve previously own many of these 12 films collected here (including all the Cheh films).

I would really love to add this set to my collection, but due to the large amount of film, the retail price of $170 is a little too much for my blood. Even if it’s discounted to $150, that’s still too much for me. The Arrow’s Shawscope sets runs about 10-12 films and I can usually buy that on discount for about $100… so if they can lower the price to the Lung/Chiang set to about $100, I’ll pay.

The Ti Lung / David Chiang Collection will be released on July 28, 2026.