Hi. I have multiple copies of a couple of Hong Kong films where the sleeves have totally different artwork. The discs are the same pressings, the cat #s are the same, etc. The artwork's just different. I don't know if they came out at the same time or why there are variants. I just know that they exist.

Anyway, how should this be handled? I'm happy to send scans. I just don't know if I should send the scans in and see what happens or if I should create a second entry for the alternate artwork. (One release is up already and has been for ages.)

Thanks!

If the artwork is very different, I would opt for creating a separate entry.

Since the cover is the first identifier for most people (including me), finding a matching entry with different artwork will catch most off-guard and create confusion.

If you find several matching entries, you can then pick the one corresponding to your actual cover and be done.

I add "alternate" covers when the differences are subtle (slightly different obis with promotional campaign, price updates when VAT/GST was modified, etc.).

Julien

I have one Hong Kong release that has the exact same "issue". The artwork is completely different but the rest is the same incl. catalog number, mint marks, etc. Weird. I wonder why this is the case in the first place.

In that case, could you duplicate Father Christmas (1991) [ASLA-1027]? I'm pretty sure I've already sent you the covers for the alt release. If the mint marks are different, I'll just sort that out myself.

Just to be clear…if I recall correctly…and I very well may not because the discs I saw were decades ago…wasn’t there this thing with the HK rental market where many times the movie is two discs, even when it fits on one, and they have two outer covers completely different? IIRC, the ones I saw would have a “I” or a “II” on cover, almost making the second half look like a sequel.

Does this make sense? Was that a dream I had? Anyway, if you can verify that the entire film is on each disc then we know we aren’t talking about whatever the rental phenomenon was. It would explain two covers with identical catalog numbers though.

I think these are 2 different things.

Some HK releases were indeed split on 2 discs for retail, ex:

Drunken Master II: Part 1 and part 2


Days of Tomorrow: Part 1 and 2


But in this case, I think this is a stand-alone release with totally different artwork, not a split release.

Is that correct?

Julien

That is entirely correct. That would be my understanding, too.

I have one Hong Kong release (Ghost Fever) that is on one disc ( 96 Min. running time ) and that has a completely
different cover and was even manufactured by a different company (Pioneer Japan instead of Kuraray).

I guess it is more comparable to a DVD release that has two different editions where the DVD disc might contain
the exact same contents but where the cover was altered for the later second release/edition.

It has nothing to do with a title being split into two separate "releases" for the rental market.

Agreed => Father Christmas (1991) [ASLA-1027]



Julien

As others have said, it's two separate issues. For 2-4 years, there was a weird trend where the major Hong Kong labels (Mei Ah / Cameron, Universe, Star, Golden Cinema) would needlessly split films over two discs, supposedly to give rental shops an excuse to jack up prices. On top of that, most sets were CLV but some were CAV, some included a bunch of karaoke videos while others contained just the film, etc. It was a thoroughly annoying trend for many reasons, along with making cataloguing annoying on this site. Most sets had different catalogue numbers. Mainland 2-disc sets, along with Ocean Shores sets, shared their catalogue numbers across both discs.

Oh, and to make things even more confusing, Universe and Mei Ah would occasionally release single-disc versions of these releases, with the releases sharing catalogue numbers with the first disc of the 2-disc set! If you know what to look for (上集 = First part, 下集 = Second part), you can spot it on the sleeves that used Chinese characters. (Of course, others said "Disc 1" and "Disc 2".) Something to watch for when buying these things, along with asking the seller to confirm that both discs are actually present! I've gotten burned a couple of times because the dealer wither didn't check or didn't notice that, say, two copies of Disc 1 were in the sleeves. !#%^@@!#&@%#$!!

Anyway, Ocean Shores and World Video had their own thing going where they would occasionally print up completely different jackets for the same disc. I don't know why, although I read that World Video would occasionally bootleg films. Maybe it was some weird attempt to sucker people into buying more discs???