When Janus Films ( an American film distribution company ) announced earlier this year that they were working on the 4k restorations of renowned HK director Wong Kar Wai’s films, hope began to build in the community that perhaps this could signal new home video releases in 4k from Criterion, who has a close working relationship with Janus.

Wong Kar Wai has a very strong arthouse following but sadly his excellent filmography has never received good quality representation on home video except for two of his films on Criterion ( namely In The Mood For Love and the much sought after but long out of print Chungking Express ), which is why this news generated much excitement.

Then things got quite for a while, until just last week Criterion finally announced their 2021 release titles for March, and one of them is this gorgeous World Of Wong Kar Wai Collection.

The set will feature 7 of Wong’s films – As Tears Go By / Days of Being Wild / Chungking Express / Fallen Angels / Happy Together / In the Mood for Love and lastly 2046, which has never been released on blu-ray.

Besides the films, there are also a whole host of extra features and materials which I’m really excited about. Here are the details –

– New 4K digital restorations of Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046,  approved by director Wong Kar Wai, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
– New 4K digital restorations of As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
– New program in which Wong answers questions submitted, at the invitation of the director, by authors André Aciman and Jonathan Lethem; filmmakers Sofia Coppola, Rian Johnson, Lisa Joy, and Chloé Zhao; cinematographers Philippe Le Sourd and Bradford Young; and filmmakers and founders/creative directors of Rodarte Kate and Laura Mulleavy
– Alternate version of Days of Being Wild featuring different edits of the film’s prologue and final scenes, on home video
for the first time
– Hua yang de nian hua, a 2000 short film by Wong
– Extended version of The Hand, a 2004 short film by Wong, available in the U.S. for the first time
– Interview and “cinema lesson” with Wong from the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
– Three making-of documentaries, featuring interviews with Wong; actors Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chang Chen, Faye Wong, and Ziyi Zhang; and others
– Episode of the television series Moving Pictures from 1996 featuring Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle
– Interviews from 2002 and 2005 with Doyle
– Excerpts from a 1994 British Film Institute audio interview with Cheung on her work in Days of Being Wild
– Program from 2012 on In the Mood for Love’s soundtrack
– Press conference for In the Mood for Love from the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
– Deleted scenes, alternate endings, behind-the-scenes footage, a promo reel, music videos, and trailers
– PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a perfect-bound, French-fold book featuring lavish photography, an essay by critic
John Powers, a director’s note, and six collectible art prints


Personally for completion sake I would have hoped Ashes Of Time, The Grandmaster as well as My Blueberry Nights to be included in this set as well, but this is still a fantastic treat for any Wong Kar Wai or discerning movie fan.

World Of Wong Kar Wai will be released on March 23rd 2021. I’m definitely picking up a set and will post pictures when I get mine. Pre-order with the links below –

Buy From Amazon CA | Amazon JP | Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon ES

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