Orange Sky Golden Harvest

Orange Sky Golden Harvest (OSGH) (Chinese: 橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司) SEHK: 1132, previously known as Golden Harvest (Chinese: 嘉禾娛樂事業集團有限公司) from 1970 to 2009, is a film production, distribution, and exhibition company based in Hong Kong. It dominated Hong Kong box office sales from the 1970s to 1980s[2] and played a major role in introducing Hong Kong films to the Western market, especially those by Bruce Lee (Concord Production Inc.), Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung.

Orange Sky Golden Harvest
Public company
IndustryFilm production
Founded1970
FounderRaymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Leung Fung
Headquarters
16th floor, The Peninsula Office Tower
18 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
,
Hong Kong[1]
Key people
Raymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Peter Choy
ProductsMotion pictures
Websiteosgh.com.hk
Orange Sky Golden Harvest
Traditional Chinese橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司
Simplified Chinese橙天嘉禾娱乐集团有限公司

History

Notable names in the company include its founders, the veteran film producers Raymond Chow (鄒文懐) and Leonard Ho (何冠昌). Chow and Ho were executives with Hong Kong's top studio Shaw Brothers but left in 1970 to form their own studio. They succeeded by taking a different approach from the highly centralised Shaw model. Golden Harvest contracted with independent producers and gave talent more generous pay and greater creative freedom. Some filmmakers and actors from Shaw Brothers defected. But what really put the company on the map was a 1971 deal with soon-to-be martial arts superstar Bruce Lee with the film The Big Boss, after he had turned down the low-paying standard contract offered him by the Shaws.

In 1973, Golden Harvest entered into a pioneering co-production with Hollywood for the English-language Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon (龍爭虎鬥), a worldwide hit made with the Warner Brothers studio and Concord Production Inc.

Following Lee's death, Golden Harvest found success with the Hui Brothers' comedies such as Games Gamblers Play (1974), The Last Message (1975), The Private Eyes (1976), The Contract (1978) and Security Unlimited (1981).

Golden Harvest supplanted Shaw Brothers as Hong Kong's dominant studio by the end of the 1970s and retained that position into the 1990s. Its greatest asset for years was that from the 1980s until very recently, it produced almost all of the films of Jackie Chan. Golden Harvest has also produced a number of films with Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Golden Harvest also produced The Cannonball Run and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy in the United States.[3]

In 1992, Golden Village, a 50:50 joint venture between Golden Harvest and Village Roadshow of Australia was set up to develop and operate modern, multiplex cinemas in Singapore. In 1993, Golden Harvest sold its film library to Star TV.[4]

Golden Harvest was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1994.[5]

Golden Harvest's activity has declined since the death of Leonard Ho in 1998. In 2003, they withdrew from film-making to concentrate on film financing, distribution, and cinema management in Hong Kong and in Mainland China.

In 2004, Li Ka-shing and EMI became shareholders of the company. In 2007, Raymond Chow sold the company to Chinese businessman Wu Kebo, who owns the China-based Orange Sky Entertainment Group. In early 2009, Golden Harvest merged with Orange Sky and was renamed Orange Sky Golden Harvest (橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司).[6] From 2009 to 2011 it was operated by Kelvin Wu King Shiu who become the CEO of the company. At that time Golden Harvest announced their relaunch and previewed a new trailer set for movies in 2010.[7][8]

In October 2017, Golden Harvest acquired the other 50% stake of Golden Harvest from its joint venture partner, Village Roadshow, and therefore having full ownership of Golden Village.[9] This was after a prior bid by Singapore-based media mini-conglomerate MM2 Asia to acquire the Village Roadshow stake in June 2017, as Village Roadshow failed to secure the approval of Golden Harvest.[10] It is unknown whether the Village name will be dropped from Golden Village as a result of the acquisition.

Cinemas
See also: List of cinemas in Hong Kong
Entrance to Grand Ocean Cinema at Harbour City

Orange Sky Golden Harvest has cinemas not only in Hong Kong, but also in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Most of these are joint ventures. Golden Village, now fully owned by Orange Sky Golden Harvest, was a former joint venture with Village Roadshow responsible for the operation of Gold Class cinemas and Asia's first multiplex.

In Malaysia, the group was instrumental in the formation of the country's two largest cinema chains: Golden Screen Cinemas, a joint venture with Malaysia's PPB Group who bought out Golden Harvest's stake for full ownership, and TGV Cinemas (formerly Tanjong Golden Village), a joint venture with Tanjong of Malaysia and Village Roadshow of Australia, the former having bought out the remaining stakes for full ownership.[11]

The company has recently acquired Warner Village in Taiwan.

Films produced
Main article: List of Golden Harvest productions

See also

References
  • Bordwell, David. Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-674-00214-8
  • Teo, Stephen. Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions. London: British Film Institute, 1997. ISBN 0-85170-514-6
  • Yang, Jeff. Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese Cinema. New York: Atria, 2003. ISBN 0-7434-4817-0

Notes
  1. Golden Harvest Official website: Contact Us – Office Address Archived 23 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Chu, Yingchi. [2003] (2003). Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self. Routledge. ISBN 0700717463
  3. Reuters, From (23 February 1995). "Bruce Lee, Ninja Turtles Helped Create a Hong Kong Movie Mogul : Entertainment: Producer Raymond Chow took big chances while growing large, and has plans to keep expanding". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  4. Murphy, Kevin (23 June 1993). "STAR-TV Reaps Golden Film Harvest". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  5. FARLEY, MAGGIE (18 November 1994). "Company Town : Hong Kong Movie Company's IPO Draws Investor Gold Rush : Film: Mogul Raymond Chow raises $29 million in the offering for Golden Harvest Entertainment". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  6. Pollard, Mark. "Golden Harvest aims high for studio revival". kungfucinema.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
  7. "Chinese Film Studios | China Hollywood Society". www.chinahollywood.org. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  8. "BRIEF-AID Life Science Says Wu King Shiu, Kelvin Resigned As CEO". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  9. "Hong Kong shareholder buys remaining Golden Village Singapore stake after blocking mm2's bid". 2 October 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  10. "mm2's bid to acquire 50% of Golden Village cinema chain falls through". The Straits Times. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  11. "Golden Village Celebrates 30 Years of Exhibition Innovation". Variety. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
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