Cinema City Company Limited

This article is about the original incarnation of Cinema City. For other uses, see Cinema City (disambiguation).

Credits

Descriptions by
mr3urious

Captures by
Logohub

Video captures courtesy of
dire398, cruiseshipz, dorothy1895, and Nlangkirby135

Background

Cinema City Company Limited was a major Hong Kong film studio founded by Raymond Wong, Karl Maka, and Dean Shek in 1970 as Warriors Films Company. After recieving funding from Golden Princess in 1980 and a deal with them, they renamed themselves to Cinema City Films & Co. and would begin challenging other studios like Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers. The studio ran into some financial troubles around 1989, and would split off into several companies under the Cinema City name: Cinema City & Films Company (by Raymond Wong), Cinema City Enterprises/Cinema Capital Entertainment (by Karl Maka) and Cinema City Entertainment (by Dean Shek). Only Raymond Wong remained to continue making movies as Mandarin Films Limited since 1992 (later Pegasus Motion Pictures and Mandarin Motion Pictures), and would eventually revive the name to be used as a local theatre chain in 2014, simply named Cinema City.

Warriors Film Company

1st Logo (August 30, 1979)

Logo: On a black background, a white-outlined cartoon man, without a shirt on and filled white pants, is seen coming towards the screen while doing several backflips. After he stops flipping, he moves about a bit and then grabs an invisible ribbon, causing it to transform in a "W" shape that starts off thick, but gets thinner with each stroke. The result freezes and stalls for a second before it moves to the upper left corner, and a white rectangle zooms in to form "WARRIORS FILM CO." just off-center. The background slowly fades to a orange-red color as well during this. A black rectangle then grows to reveal "奮鬥影業公司" in a brush-stroke form above the text, and then "WARRIORS FILM CO." shrinks vertically. Finally, the man kicks out a white ball to below the text, causing it to splatter and form "presents".

Technique: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: A loud traditional Chinese fanfare.

Availability: Very rare. This was only seen on their first film, Crazy Partner.

2nd Logo (February 14, 1980)

Logo: On a black background, the "W" from the 1st logo is drawn in, but without the man holding it, from left to right, followed by a white tube shape around it counterclockwise, and then a registered trademark symbol appears in it. "奮鬥影業公司" then wipes in below in a slightly neater brushstroke style, and then "WARRIORS FILM COMPANY" in a wide white font wipes in below that. "Presents" then appears below.

Technique: Simple wiping effects.

Music/Sounds: An action-oriented fanfare.

Availability: Rare. This was only seen on their second film, Crazy Crooks.

Cinema City and Films Company/Cinema City Company Limited

1st Logo (December 24, 1980-January 30, 1986, 1987)

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Logo: On a black background, a boxy blue "C" zooms out from the right side of the screen with a translucent trail and into the center of the screen, flashing to become a solid state. This occurs with a larger yellow "C" that has a more centered trail, and then a even larger red "C" with rounded corners and a perfectly centered trail, all encapsulating each other to form the Cinema City logo as it glows a bit. After a few seconds, it becomes out of focus like frosted glass and disappears, leaving room for the text "新藝城影業公司 CInEMA CITy & FILMS CO." to zoom out in a stacked form and also given a frosty look. The Chinese text has a blocky look to it while the English text resembles an Art Deco font. After they stop zooming and focus in, yellow stripes form across the background and cause the logo to flash, turning the background yellow and having "presents" flashes in below the bottom right portion of the text. The blue text also gains a white drop-shadow.

Closing Variant: A still closing variant was used on Happy Ghost and a trailer for Aces Go Places 3, both from 1984, and on a trailer for Prison on Fire in 1987. The endcap features a blue background with the Cinema City print logo (which is smaller and more rounded) in gold, a line of glare below it and over the glare is the slogan "新藝城出品 觀眾有信心" in red, which roughly translates to "With a Cinema City production, the audience is faithful".

Technique: The zooming and light effects. For the closing variant, none.

Music/Sounds: A loud trumpet fanfare called "Fanfare Showcase No. 6", composed by Peter Reno and Jack Trombey, which was used in some other logos (like Jia's and Rainbow Audio and Video Incorporation). Rarely, the opening theme of the movie is used, and the closing variant is silent.

Availability: Rare. Seen on their films from the era, from Laughing Times to Aces Go Places IV. It is sometimes plastered by the Media Asia logo, or those of other companies on export versions, such as Atlas International. It also appears on the theatrical trailers of their films.

2nd Logo (1985-June 6, 1991)

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Logo: On a red background, a piece of the Cinema City's "CCC" logo appears to take up the whole screen before zooming out to just above the center of the screen, and then it pings on the upper left corner. The 2nd piece appears, zooms out, and then shines on the corner again, and then the 3rd piece simply fades in and pings as well. Compared to the previous logo, all of it is in a metallic golden color with bevels and slightly rounded edges. The logo then shines around the edges thrice: one along the top, one along the bottom, and then all around from the right. Finally, a metallic golden bar in the same style as the logo fades in below, and a light beam shines in the following Chinese text depending on the years:

• 1985-1989: "新藝城影業有限公司"
• 1989-1991: "新藝城影業公司"

This is followed by the English text fading in.

• 1985-1989: "CINEMA CITY COMPANY LIMITED" (From 1985-1986, it and the Chinese text are both on the bar, and are also much smaller and spaced out for the Chinese text.)
• 1989-1991: "CINEMA CITY & FILMS LIMITED"

Technique: Motion-controlled animation and light effects.

Music/Sounds:

• 1985-1986: A synthesized version of the previous logo's fanfare, though also rearranged to sound more powerful.
• 1986-1991: A series of 3 5-note synth melodies, each ascending in pitch before ending in a 2-note fanfare with held notes. A "sheen" sound effect plays when the pieces appear as well.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Hong Kong films of the time. Sometimes is plastered by the Media Asia logo, or those of other companies on export versions, such as Atlas International. It is intact on Fortune Star's release of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, Anchor Bay's U.S. DVD of A Better Tomorrow II, and the Dimension release of City on Fire (surprisingly, after the Media Asia logo!). Also appears on HK theatrical trailers. The early version is very hard to find and was seen on Love, Lone Flower as well as The Family Strikes Back.