weinstein co's big fat asian film fund

You can take this as either great news or horrible news. According to the Variety, the Weinstein Co. has unveiled a $285 million fund to fully finance the development, production, acquisition, marketing and distribution of a large slate of Asian-themed films over the next six years: Weinstein Co. sets fund for Asia slate. The fund will include a mix of over 30 theatrical and direct-to-video titles, "which will mostly be shot in Asia, explore the region's unique culture and showcase the talents of leading Asian filmmakers." Some of the upcoming titles include a live-action, non-Disneyfied version of Mulan; a remake of Seven Samurai; action epic Shanghai; an untitled Tony Jaa project; a trio of Hong Kong action films, to be shot in English, under the company's recently announced deal with 24 producer Tony Krantz and Infernal Affairs co-director Andrew Lau; and Forbidden Kingdom, which marks the first onscreen pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

I'll admit, it sounds intriguing, but I'm not getting my hopes up. This news probably induces a collective groan from Asian cinema fans who aren't happy with the way the Weinsteins (previously at Miramax) have handled the distribution of Asians films in North America. They've done a pretty crappy job of bringing these movies to U.S. audiences—buying up the rights, then re-editing and retitling films, adding awful dubs and soundtracks, and sometimes letting them gather dust on the shelf for several years before getting a release. Basically, they haven't shown a whole lot of respect for Asian cinema. How will this new arrangement be any better?