John Woo’s HARD BOILED, A BETTER TOMORROW, and THE KILLER Are Blasting Back Into Theaters in 4K for 2026

GKIDS just dropped a new re-release trailer that action fans are going to want to crank up loud. Three of John Woo’s most iconic Hong Kong action films are heading back to theaters in 2026, newly restored and remastered in 4K. This is a full-on theatrical event celebrating a legendary run of cinema, and it’s happening on a massive scale across the U.S.

Starting in January 2026, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, and The Killer will return to theaters nationwide as special event screenings. GKIDS is teaming up with Shout! Studios, Radial Entertainment, Hong Kong Cinema Classics, and the Hong Kong Film Archives to bring these classics back looking and sounding better than ever.

Each film has been scanned in 4K from the original camera negatives, with restored video and audio and newly translated subtitles from Cantonese.

The rollout kicks off with Hard Boiled in January 2026, followed by A Better Tomorrow in March and The Killer in April. Each screening will also include a prerecorded interview with John Woo, where the filmmaker digs into the making of each movie and reflects on their legacy.

Even better, these screenings are hitting around 800 theaters nationwide, making this the widest North American theatrical release these films have ever received.

As announced by GKIDS and Shout! Studios:

“John Woo's renowned films Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer will return to theaters nationwide, providing fans & cinephiles the opportunity to experience some of the best films from this remarkable era in cinematic history on the big screen.

“Shout! Studios, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Film Archives, has been working diligently to restore & remaster these films, all scanned in stunning 4K from the original camera negatives. The video & audio have been restored, and subtitles have been newly translated from Cantonese. All 3 movies are directed by legendary HK filmmaker John Woo.”

Released in 1992, Hard Boiled stars Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and is widely regarded as one of the greatest action films ever made. The story throws viewers into a brutal war between gun smugglers and law enforcement, following an ace detective who loses his partner during a teahouse raid and pushes deeper undercover to bring the operation down. It’s relentless, emotional, and packed with action sequences that still hit hard decades later.

The official synopsis reads: “Mobsters are smuggling guns into Hong Kong. The police orchestrate a raid at a teahouse where an ace detective loses his partner. Meanwhile, the two main gun smugglers are having a war over territory, and a young new gun is enlisted to wipe out informants and overcome barriers to growth. The detective, acting from inside sources, gets closer to the ring leaders and eventually must work with the inside man directly.”

Up next is 1986’s A Better Tomorrow, starring Lung Ti, Leslie Cheung, and Chow Yun-Fat. This film helped define Woo’s heroic bloodshed style and became a landmark in Hong Kong cinema. At its core, it’s a crime saga about loyalty, family, and redemption, centered on two brothers who end up on opposite sides of the law.

The synopsis reads: “This story is the tale of two brothers: one a successful counterfeiter and the younger a fledgling graduate of the HK police academy. The plot revolves around the split when the younger brother learns the other is a criminal and the efforts of the criminal brother to reform. Along the way are plenty of heists, double-crosses, and shoot outs.”

Closing out the event is 1989’s The Killer, with Chow Yun-Fat starring alongside Danny Lee and Sally Yeh. This film leans hard into tragedy and honor, following a hitman whose life changes after an innocent woman is blinded during a job. His attempt to help her leads him into a deadly collision course with both criminals and the police.

According to the official description: “A Hong Kong hitman accidentally blinds an innocent woman during a hit. He is determined to get her surgery to help her regain her sight but he needs to complete one more hit first. He completes the job but then is ambushed as he tries to escape: someone wants him dead. Meanwhile a resourceful, unorthodox police detective is hot on his trail.”

Tickets are already on sale for all three films. Hard Boiled screens for three nights only on January 25th, 26th, and 28th, 2026. A Better Tomorrow follows on March 1st, 2nd, and 4th, with The Killer wrapping things up on April 5th, 6th, and 8th.

These are essential action classics no matter how you watch them, but seeing them restored in 4K on the big screen with a fired-up crowd is going to be really cool!