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Cinema City Enterprises

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Cinema City Enterprises Co.
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1979; 47 years ago (1979) (as "Warriors Film Company")
FounderRaymond Wong
Karl Maka
Dean Shek
Defunct1991; 35 years ago (1991)
FateRenamed to Mandarin Films Ltd.
SuccessorMandarin Films Ltd.
Headquarters
Mei Foo Sun Chuen (1980-1989)Pioneer Centre, Mong Kok, Kowloon, British Hong Kong (1989-1991)
ProductsMotion pictures

Cinema City Enterprises Ltd (also known as Cinema Capital Entertainment and Cinema City Entertainment, formerly Cinema City and Films Co. and Cinema City Company Limited) was a company that specialised in Hong Kong Cinema. The company had a small catalogue of only 88 films. Their library covers genres including drama, comedy, horror.[1]

The company was established in 1979 by actors Raymond Wong, Karl Maka and Dean Shek. The company was successful throughout the 1980s, but went into financial trouble around the early 1990s. Their last film was Blue Lightning in 1991, produced shortly before the company shut down. They were known for producing films such as A Better Tomorrow and Aces Go Places.

History

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In 1979, comedians Raymond Wong,[2] Karl Maka, and Dean Shek founded the Warriors Film Company.[3] The company produced early republic comedy kung fu films such as Crazy Partner (1979), Crazy Crooks (1980) and By Hook or by Crook (1980).[3]

Prior to the Warriors Film Company, most of the Cantonese language films were produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest with them controlling the distribution and availability of the films. In 1980, Golden Princess Amusement Co., Ltd, lacking its own sources of Cantonese language films for the Hong Kong market, invested in the Warriors Film Company to produce and ensure a supply of Cantonese language films for its own distribution and the company was renamed to Cinema City. In its first three years, Golden Princess Amusement invested more than HK$100 million in Cinema City. With the investment, Cinema City increased its film production from two to 10 in a year.[citation needed]

In 1981, Cinema City invited Tsui Hark, who was recommended by John Woo, to join them. Hark's previous films had critical success but fared poorly at the box office. His first film with Cinema City, All the Wrong Clues for the Right Solution, grossed HK$7,479,976 in making it the fourth highest grossing film in Hong Kong.[4] The film also won the Golden Horse Award for Best Cinematography and Film Editing.[5] It was also nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Feature.[5] Hark also won Best Director at the 1981 Golden Horse Awards.[5][6] The film successfully led the company on to new film genres outside of its early day genre of early republic comedy kung fu films. In November 1981 or in 1982, Hark's wife, Nansun Shi, joined Cinema City, as its executive director and was part of the seven core members of the company.

From 1981 to 1990, the seven core members of Cinema City (Maka, Shek, Wong, Shi, Eric Tsang, Teddy Robin and Hark) would gather nightly at Maka's house, located at Mei Foo Sun Chuen, to produce ideas and scripts for the company.[3]

In 1981, Cinema City started producing Aces Go Places. Chow Yun-fat was initially selected as one of the main leads for the film but the company was afraid of his tight filming schedule. Hark then recommended Sam Hui to replace Chow. Hui demanded HK$2 million in acting fees at a time when the budget for a small film is HK$1 million. With approval from Golden Princess Amusement, Hui played one of the main leads. A major production for the company, Maka was the other male main lead with cameos by Shek, Wong and Hark and Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang, who had just won Best Actress at the 18th Golden Horse Awards, as its main female lead. Aces would grossed HK$27.0 million[7] on a budget of HK8 million. Tickets equivalent to 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s population were sold to watch the film.[8] Maka also won Best Actor at the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards in 1983.[9] Chang would then also join Cinema City as its head producer and Taiwan representative of the company.[10] In 1984, Woo took over as the Taiwan representative.[3]

In 1985, Cinema City and PolyGram Records formed record label Cinepoly Records.[3] In 1986, Hark provided the funding for Woo to film a longtime pet project, A Better Tomorrow (1986). The story of two brothers—one a law enforcement officer, the other a criminal—was a financial blockbuster. A Better Tomorrow became a defining achievement in Hong Kong action cinema.[11]

In 1988, Cinema City reached its peak with The Eighth Happiness, a comedy film surrounding three brothers, directed by Johnnie To. The film grossed HK$37,090,776 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 11 February to 30 March 1988 and was the top-grossing film of 1988 in Hong Kong[12] and the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong at the time.[13]

In 1990, after the seven core members started their independent filming projects, Cinema City split into four entities, Cinema City, Cinema City Enterprises / Cinema Capital Entertainment and Cinema City Entertainment. The main Cinema City company was managed by Wong who later restructured it into Mandarin Films Limited. Cinema City Enterprises / Cinema Capital Entertainment was managed by Maka but the company closed down as he retired soon after the split. Cinema City Entertainment was managed by Shek but like Maka, the company closed down soon as Shek retired in 1992.

In 2017, the seven core members of Cinema City were invited as award presenters at the 36th Hong Kong Film Awards (Hark was absent due to matters) and the 54th Golden Horse Awards.

List of films

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Release date Title Co-production with Distributor Notes
1979 Crazy Partner Produced under Warriors Films
14 February 1980 Crazy Crooks Produced under Warriors Films
7 August 1980 By Hook or by Crook Bo Ho Film Company Ltd Produced under Warriors Films
24 December 1980 Laughing Times Self distributed
23 July 1981 All the Wrong Clues for the Right Solution Golden Princess Amusement Co. Ltd
5 February 1981 Beware of Pickpockets Golden Princess Amusement Co. Ltd
7 August 1981 Chasing Girls Golden Princess Amusement Co. Ltd
16 January 1982 Aces Go Places Self distributed
15 July 1982 It Takes Two Self distributed
25 February 1982 Can't Stop The War (大追击)
5 August 1982 He Lives by Night [zh] (夜惊魂)
5 February 1983 Aces Go Places II Self distributed
31 March 1983 All the Wrong Spies [zh]  (我爱夜来香)
30 July 1983 Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing Taiwanese film
5 August 1983 The Perfect Wife?! Self distributed
15 December 1983 Esprit d'amour Golden Princess Amusement Co. Ltd
1983 Send in the Clowns (台上台下) Also known as Cabaret Tears

1984

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1985

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1986

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1987

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1988

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1989

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1990

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1991

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References

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  1. ↑ "CINEMA CITY & FILMS CO. : FILMOGRAPHY". hkcinemagic.com. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Hong Kong producer-actor Raymond Wong found guilty of insider trading, family profited $163k". AsiaOne. 2026-05-25. Retrieved 2026-05-25.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 吳, 君玉 (February 2016). "History in Review: From Warriors Film to Cinema City" (PDF). 通訊 (75): 12–14.
  4. ↑ Morton, 2009. p.46
  5. 1 2 3 "Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival". Golden Horse Awards. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Morton, 2009. p.47
  7. ↑ "Top Hong Kong Grossers". Variety. November 26, 1986. p. 35.
  8. ↑ "How Bond films were the spark for Aces Go Places action comedy". South China Morning Post. 2025-06-08. Retrieved 2026-05-26.
  9. ↑ "1st Hong Kong Film Awards" (in Chinese). Official website of Hong Kong Film Awards. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Sylvia Chang: the cinematic renaissance woman". www.fareastfilm.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-05-26.
  11. ↑ Biography for Cinema City Enterprises at IMDb
  12. ↑ "'Go Johnnie To' series will show movies of Hong Kong director". Daily Bruin.
  13. ↑ "Top 20 All-Time Grossers (Chinese films)". Variety. February 1, 1989. p. 119.

Cited works

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