Cinema City (Hong Kong)

Background: This was a major Hong Kong film studio founded by Raymond Wong, Karl Maka, and Dean Shek in 1970 as Warriors Films Co. It would change its name to Cinema City & Films Co. sometime around 1979, and would begin challenging other studios like Golden Harvest and Shaw Bros. The studio ran into some financial troubles around the early '90s, and attempts to fully revive it were unsuccessful, leaving some spin-off companies like Cinema City Enterprises/Cinema Capital Entertainment and Cinema City Entertainment.

1st Logo (December 24, 1980-January 30, 1986)Cinema City & Films Co. 1983 Cinema City (1970s-1986?)Cinema City & Films Co. 1983

Logo: On a black background, a blue squarish C zooms out via light trailing effects, followed by a larger yellow C and an even larger red C, forming Cinema City's logo, which glows. A few seconds later, the logo disappears, and the text "CINEMA CITY & FILMS CO." in a blue '70s font with its Chinese name above it in red zooms out, turning the background yellow. "presents" flashes in below. The words remain on screen several seconds.

FX/SFX: The zooming and light effects.

Music/Sounds: A loud trumpet fanfare, which probably came from a track library since it's used in some other logos (like Jia's and Rainbow Audio and Video Incorporation).

Availability: Rare. Seen on Hong Kong films from the era. It is sometimes plastered by the Media Asia logo, or those of other companies on export versions, such as Atlas International. Also appears on HK theatrical trailers.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (March 27, 1986- June 6, 1991) Cinema City (1986? Early 1990s)Cinema City (1986?-Early 1990s?)Cinema City Company Limited 1989 - 2.35:1

Logo: On a red background, the pieces of the Cinema City logo, now in gold, zoom out and shine with a ping on the top left side, except for the largest C, which fades in. The logo shines three times, and a gold line appears below as some white Chinese characters are wiped in on it from left to right via a light beam. "CINEMA CITY & FILMS COMPANY" or "CINEMA CITY COMPANY LIMITED" appears below.

Variant: An early version has the logo playing with a long pause between the animations, while the English text appears on the gold bar.

FX/SFX: The pieces of the logo zooming out and shining; pretty good effects for 1986.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized fanfare with five ascending notes as each piece of the logo appears, ending with a drawn-out two-note fanfare. The early version has a synthesized version of the 1st logo's music.

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 Anchor Bay's U.S. DVD of John Woo's 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 was only seen on The Family Strikes Back.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1990-1991) Cinema City Enterprises (Early 1990s?)Cinema Capital Entertainments (Early 1990s?)Cinema Capital Entertainments/Cinema City Enterprises (Early 1990s?)

Logo: On a dark blue/black gradient background with several reddish filmstrips shooting forth and toward the right, a gold C zooms out, followed by a larger silver C and a reddish E. The filmstrips fly away, and several more vertical ones fly across from left to right. The letters zoom out toward the top of the screen and change color to red, yellow, and light blue, forming the Cinema City Enterprises logo, which the same as before, only with an E replacing the small C. "CINEMA CITY ENTERPRISES LTD." fades in below in white, with its name in Chinese just above it.

Variant: There are variants that read "Cinema Capital Entertainments Ltd." with 3 little stars as well as "Cinema Capital Entertainments Ltd. Release" with "CINEMA CITY ENTERPRISES LTD. PRODUCTION" below it.

FX/SFX: The filmstrips and the parts of the logo zooming out.

Music/Sounds: A rather loud synth orchestra fanfare with timpanis. Whooshes are heard as the logo parts zoom out.

Availability: Rare. Spotted on Fortune Star prints of Prison on Fire 1 & 2after the Golden Princess logos. Also seen on trailers for other HK films.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (August 3, 1990, March 28, 1991) Cinema City Enterprises (Mid 1990s?)

Logo: A gold block zooms out to a black background with 4 orange spotlights moving. It then rotates to reveals 2 golden C's as a third one zooms out. The second "C" zooms in as the other 2 zoom out and it rotates and transforms into the spinning red text "CINEMA CITY" that rotates to face the right way and the 2 C's zoom in behind it. Everything freezes and red Chinese characters and "E N T E R T A I N M E N T C O . L T D ." appear above and below the logo respectively.

FX/SFX: The zooms, the flips, and the rotates.

Music/Sounds: An uninspired synth fanfare.

Availability: Seen only in two movies:The Raid and The Dragon From Russia.

Editor's Note: None.