Cinema City Company Limited

Background

This was a major Hong Kong film studio founded by Raymond Wong, Karl Maka, and Dean Shek in 1970 as Warriors Films Company. It would change its name to Cinema City & Films Co. sometime around 1979, and would begin challenging other studios like Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers. 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 (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).

Warriors Film Company

Cinema City and Films Company

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

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.

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

FX/SFX: 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).

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 (1985-June 6, 1991)

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 variant has the "CINEMA CITY COMPANY LIMITED" text on the gold line, appearing with the Chinese characters.

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 is very hard to find and was seen on Love, Lone Flower as well as The Family Strikes Back.

Editor's Note: None.

Cinema City Enterprises Ltd.

3rd Logo (1990-1991)

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.

Variants:

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.
A deteriorated variant also exists on the Thai dub version of Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon

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 & 2 after the Golden Princess logos, and was only seen on three films like Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon, Undeclared War and Prison on Fire II. Also seen on trailers for other HK films.

Editor's Note: None.

Cinema City Entertainment Co. Ltd.

4th Logo (August 3, 1990, March 28, 1991)

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: Considering that this was the final logo of a struggling company, it's understandable why it was not good. However, it could have been a lot better.