New York & Hong Kong – Celestial Pictures Limited (Celestial Pictures) announced on February 26 that it has concluded a multi-year content deal with El Rey Network, the new English-language cable channel from maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
Under the agreement, El Rey Network will offer subscribers access to the classic martial arts titles from the Shaw Brothers library, which includes The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Sword of Swords, The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, Executioners from Shaolin, and The Flying Guillotine. All films come with English dubbed tracks and English subtitles and will be featured throughout the schedule and during the network’s monthly Saturday kung-fu marathon. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
“Celestial Pictures is excited to showcase our finest martial arts content to the El Rey Network community. El Rey is an innovative, groundbreaking network — the perfect outlet to broadcast the cinematic action of the classic Shaw Brothers films. We are thrilled to bring these films to our diverse and loyal fans through a bold filmmaker driven network,” said Kristen Tong, Head of Business and Legal Affairs of Celestial Pictures.
Robert Rodriguez added: “Long before El Rey Network was born, I had many of the Shaw Brothers films on my playlist at home. It was a hard drive that had my hit list of personal favourites and certainly these titles were among the best in Kung Fu films. They are action-packed and still have cult status among fans of the genre. We are thrilled to partner with Celestial Pictures on this collection as it is a perfect addition to our existing line-up of renegade programming.”
