The first Asia Extreme touring film festival, in summer 2003, marked a key turning point for the brand. For the first time, Tartan added its Asia Extreme brand to theatrical releases, and screened films together, rather than separately. Promoting brand recognition was given priority over individual films. Also, for the first time, Asia Extreme films were released in multiplex cinemas: the 2003 Asia Extreme festival (referred to by Tartan as a ‘roadshow’) was exclusive to the now-defunct UGC chain of cinemas. Seven films went ‘on tour’ to eight UGC cinemas around the UK; each individual film would play for two weeks, then move on to another cinema. Each venue rotated through all seven films between May and August.

Prior to this new release strategy, Tartan's cult Asian films had only been released in London cinemas and art houses nationwide. Between August 2000 and September 2001 Tartan released six titles, but it was not until 2002 that the Asia Extreme DVD brand became official. In 2002 Tartan released two more films theatrically, which would later bear the new Asia Extreme brand: the hitman thriller Bangkok Dangerous (1999) and the ‘restrained’ horror The Eye (2002). Both films were directed by the Pang Brothers, a transnational duo who have made films in both the Thai and Hong Kong film industries. Though both films were accompanied by a more aggressive marketing strategy (free postcards were distributed at the art-house cinemas at which they were shown), they were still confined to repertory cinemas. The 2003 Asia Extreme festival was Tartan's first push for multiplex audiences and the marketing strategy they employed demonstrates their determination to win the favour of a much wider audience.

The disparate group of films chosen for the festival indicates Tartan's deter- mination to expand the brand. Having launched the notion of an ‘Extreme Asian Cinema’ with the horror films Ring and Audition, Tartan increasingly moved away from ‘straight’ horror. Of the seven films in the Asia Extreme festival, none could be described as horror movies; several represent genre hybrids like Battle Royale. Four of the seven films chosen were from South Korea: Shiri (Kang Je-gyu, 1999), Bad Guy (Kim Ki-duk, 2002), Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Park Chan-wook, 2002) and Public Enemy (Kang Woo-suk, 2002).