Shaw Brothers restarts film production

News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

Not long ago I was writing about the return of Hong Kong film studio Golden Harvest and now their former rival, the mighty Shaw Brothers is returning to the filmmaking business after nearly 30 years. But don’t get too excited yet. While the studio has announced a slate of four new films to be produced through their Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) subsidiary and partly shot on their legendary Clearwater Bay studio soundstages, no martial arts titles are currently planned.

SB’s is kicking off with TURNING POINT, a HK$13 million crime drama directed by Herman Yau and starring Anthony Wong, Francis Ng and Michael Tse. The film is based on a popular TVB miniseries called E.U. Two other films to go into production this year include the ensemble comedy HOUSE OF 73 TENANTS, a semi-sequel to SB’s blockbuster 1973 film HOUSE OF 72 TENANTS, and the tentatively titled young adult romcom LOVE EXPERT. Also in development is a period drama set for production in 2010.

A studio representative has told The Hollywood Reporter that the company is aiming for diversity, with an undetermined number of films comprised of different genres and scales. The rep also mentions that the company is targeting local audiences and aims to help out the local film industry by hiring Hong Kong actors and crew.

Although their film production unit has been closed since 1985, Shaw Brothers has remained in operation as a film distributor, theater operator and TV production company through TVB. Despite their decline in the late 1970s and early ’80s that led to the closure of their film unit, Shaw Brothers is still Hong Kong’s most successful movie studio with a library of nearly 1000 feature films dating back to the founding of their 49-acre Movie Town studio in Clearwater Bay in 1957 by Run Run Shaw and his brother Runme Shaw. Built upon a business savvy, family-run business started in Shanghai in 1923, Shaw Brothers was modeled after the Golden Age Hollywood studio system and attracted top foreign talent to quickly build up its production muscle. Shaws quickly became the region’s top movie producer and maintained this position throughout the 1960s and early ’70s. They produced films of every variety and scale with a distinctive, polished house style. Many of their films were the top-grossing hits of the era with highlights such as THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, BOXER FROM SHANTUNG, HOUSE OF 72 TENANTS, and THE WARLORD.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Tags: Shaw Brothers

robertcsherman

It's about time the bros. came back to town I've miss those good old days at the Fox.

crosenblum

Been a long time shaw brother's fan....I can't hardly wait...also would love to see some hall of fame for their greatest actor's, should be honored in my humble opinion.

mistermjones2000

I also just commented on your youtube account on the trailer for CHAMPIONS that I cried missing high production quality of the Shaw Brothers Studios that would have made the fights scenes in this movie alot more stunning. I AM at a loss at why the powers that be at TVB and Shaw Brothers don't get where their international (read big) money lies because, as a business, they need to make money and they failed to capitalize financially on their library of old films because they did not recognize who their true audience is for those films.

Rhythm-X

TURNING POINT looks quite good - nice to see Herman Yau working with what looks like a real budget. A sequel to HOUSE OF 72 TENANTS sounds interesting. LOVE EXPERT... well, if nothing else it sounds profitable. I like DRUNKEN MONKEY, but this is a more coherent and forward-looking way to reboot a studio, particularly if your emphasis is to stimulate the local film industry. Martial arts (re)launch titles or not - any sort of growth in the Hong Kong film industry is good news in the long term. The MA films will come later - period films have expenses and headaches all their own, and it makes sense to me to start with films with modern settings. They're pacing themselves and that's smart.

It says it all to me that Shaws can just, on a whim, turn the OPEN FOR BUSINESS sign back on and start cranking out films with the sort of production values seen in the trailer for TURNING POINT, where the Golden Harvest that's limping back into business with a few low-budget films is more or less an in-name-only affair.