Regional powerhouse Media Asia (MA) is moving to corner the market in Hong Kong catalogue films and has expanded its slate of current pictures.

A long-term deal sees the company handle international rights to the 150-title Golden Princess library of martial arts films and dramas, including pictures by John Woo and Tsui Hark. Within Asia the catalogue is represented by Fortune Star.

"This is one of the few contemporary Hong Kong libraries that is guaranteed to have a strong appeal internationally," said Jeffrey Chan, MA's head of sales and distribution. Titles include John Woo's Chow Yun-fat vehicle The Killer, Bullet In The Head, Tsui Hark's Swordsman, and Johnny To's Seven Years Itch.

MA also picked up four of cult director Tsui Hark's other pictures previously handled by independent distributors: Wicked City, Magic Crane, Spy Games and Shanghai Blues.

In the days before Cannes, MA picked up Red Shoes, the forthcoming film by art-house director Mabel Cheung. The film, based on the true stories of a number of families during China's Cultural Revolution, is produced through Creative Alliance (HK). It is also underway on in-house production of Joe Ma's comedy Summer Breeze.