HERO NEWS ACHIEVES
　
January - March 2003
HERO News 297 - Stupid Studio Picks Stupid Title (Various)
March 27, 2003

According to various sources, MiramAxe has already decided to call it "Jet Li's Hero". Forcing the director to chop his own creation, keeping silence while a bandwagon wad badly needed for the Oscar race, pushing it back again and again as the market flooded with imported DVDs, dumping it into the dog days of late summer, and most of all, ignoring the fans.., has MiramAxe become the rotten core of Hollywood?

S s s s s s t t t t t t u u u u u u p p p p p p i i i i i i d d d d d d ! ! ! ! ! !

　

Petition: Appeal to Disney for Respectful Treatment of Asian films

                                           Appeal to the Academy Awards for Fair Treatment of Foreign Films

　

Comment by Grg Dean Schmitz from Yahoo! Movies

　

　

Thanks to D. Mack, "Evolution" and L.C.
　

HERO News 296 - MiramAxe Pushed Back SHAOLIN SOCCER And HERO Again (Hollywood Stock Exchange)

March 19, 2003

D. Mack (aka. "Antiboy") has dropped me a note concerning the new dates of these two films: 

Shaolin Soccer	April 2, 2004 (NY/LA/SF)
Hero		August 20, 2004 (National but not wide)
　
The original report
　
Also thanks to "Paul"
　
Note: Infernal Affairs is also scheduled for August 20, 2004. Ridiculous! (Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the reminder).

HERO News 295 - Quentin Tarantino Fights MiramAxe On Behave Of HERO (Fangoria Magazine)

March 16, 2004

When MiramAxe is backstabbing Hero, Quentin Tarantino is coming to the rescue. According to Fangoria magazine, Quentin Tarantino has been pushing MiramAxe for a release in North America and he will be "presenting" Hero in New York and Los Angeles this June. He told the magazine, "I had to fight for it with Miramax. I think they lost faith in it and everything. And I thought that Hero was an absolute masterpiece, so I fought with them not to cut it. Not to bring it down, but to keep it the same length as when I saw it. And finally they agreed if I would present it. So I got in touch with Zhang Yimou and he was cool with that. Yeah, he was as happy as a clam. So that's what I am doing！it's pretty much what I did for Iron Monkey."

　

However, Iron Monkey was re-edited for North American release and MiramAxe has already forced Zhang Yimou to chop off about 20 minutes from his film to create a 98 minute version, the only version being shown on the big screen around the world.

　

Original report by Fangoria Magazine

Report by CHUD

　

Thanks to Mark Singh, C.F, John Book, Paul, Han Yik,

HERO News 294 - MiramAxe Officially Pushes HERO To The Summer (MiramAxe)
February 18, 2003

The North American date for Hero has been shifted from April 16 to "Summer 2004", according to MiramAxe's official site. MPAA has given Hero a "PG-13" for "stylized martial arts violence and a scene of sensuality."

Official Hero site by MiramAxe

(Thanks to "Peter")
　
HERO News 293 - MiramAxe Pushes HERO Back To August ? (Men's Journal)
February 16, 2003

So far there have been three versions Hero's North American release date. The first one is "April 16", claimed by many sites, including the official site of MiramAxe; the second one is "June", from a message posted on the board of Hollywood Stock Exchange; and the third one is "August", according to Men's Journal. Jet Li is ranked no. 20 of "The 25 Toughest Guys in America" and the magazine claims that Hero will arrive in American theaters in August. However, this could be a mistake, because August has been assigned to Infernal Affairs by MiramAxe.

Original report by Men's Journal

(Thanks to "Bad Link")
　
HERO News 291 - MiramAxe Pushes HERO Back To June ? (D. Mac / Hollywood Stock Exchange)
February 13, 2003

According to a massage "D. Mac (aka 'Antibogy')" posted on Hollywood Stock Exchange, MiramAxe has picked a new month for Hero - June, leaving Arial 16 only for Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Click here for the original massage

(Thanks to "Paul")
　

HERO News 290 - Will KILL BILL Vol. 2 Cannibalize HERO? (Various)

January 11, 2004

According to Variety, MiramAxe just pushed Kill Bill Vol. 2's North American release to April 16, the day has been given to Hero for a while. Reportedly, MiramAxe will present it at the Cannes Film Festival. According to Yahoo! Movie, MiramAxe plans to show Hero in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon approach, i.e. releasing in LA and NY (possibly in  Toronto as well) first and then gradually expanding to other cities. So far, no evidence shows a new day has been picked for Hero, but it would not be a total surprise if MiramAxe pushed it back again. Will MiramAxe release two films, belongs to the same genre according to same criterion, on the same day? Will Hero benefited from Vol. 2 or will Vol.2 actually kill Hero?