Orange Sky Golden Harvest

{{Infobox company|

| name = Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) Limited

| native_name = 橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司

| native_name_lang = zh

| logo = File:Orange Sky Golden Harvest corporate logo (current).jpg

| type = Public company

| traded_as = {{SEHK|1132}}

| foundation = 1970; 53 years ago

| founder = Raymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Peter Choy

| romanized_name = Cháangtīn Gāwòh Yùhlohk Jaahptyùhn Yáuhhaahn Gūngsī

| former_names = Golden Harvest Entertainment Group Co., Ltd. (嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司)

| location_city = 16th floor, The Peninsula Office Tower
18 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

| location_country = Hong Kong[http://www.goldenharvest.com.hk/corporate/index.asp?lang=en Golden Harvest Official website: Contact Us – Office Address] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523210616/http://www.goldenharvest.com.hk/corporate/index.asp?lang=en |date=23 May 2009 }}

| key_people = Raymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Peter Choy

| industry = Film production

| products = Motion pictures

| num_employees =

| revenue =

| homepage = {{url|osgh.com.hk}}

}}

{{Chinese

| t = 橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司

| s = 橙天嘉禾娱乐集团有限公司

| p = Chéngtiān jiāhé yúlè jítuán gōngsī

| w = Ch'engt'ian chiahe yüle chit'uan yuhsienkungszu

| j = Caang2tin1 gaa1wo4 jyu4lok6 zaap6tyun4 gung1si1

| ci = {{IPA|yue|tsʰǎːŋtʰɪ́n káːwɔ̏ː jy̏ːlɔ̀ːk tsàːptʰy̏ːn jɐ̬uhàːŋkʊ́ŋsî|}}

| myr = Chéngtyān jyāhé yúlè jítwán yǒusyàngūngsz̄

| y = Cháangtín gáawòh yùhlohk jaahptyùhn gūngsì

}}

Orange Sky Golden Harvest (OSGH) ({{zh|t=橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司|cy=Cháangtīn Gāwòh Yùhlohk Jaahptyùhn Yáuhhaahn Gūngsī}}), previously known as Golden Harvest ({{zh||cy=Gāwòh Yùhlohk Sihyihp Jaahptyùhn Yáuhhaahn Gūngsī|t=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 cinema box office sales from the 1970s to the 1980s,Chu, Yingchi. [2003] (2003). Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self. Routledge. {{ISBN|0700717463}} and played a major role in introducing Hong Kong action films to the world, especially those by Bruce Lee (Concord Production Inc.), Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Sammo Hung.

File:Golden Harvest on screen logo (1978-1999).jpg

History

Notable names in the company include its founders, the veteran film producers Raymond Chow, Peter Choy, and Leonard Ho. Chow, Ho and Choy 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. Golden Harvest's films with Lee were the first Hong Kong films to reach a large worldwide audience.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|page=1|date=4 April 1990|last=Armstrong|first=Nigel|title='Turtles' hurtles to a Hong Kong Chow-down}}

In 1973, Golden Harvest entered into a pioneering co-production with Hollywood for the English-language Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon ({{lang|zh-Hant-HK|龍爭虎鬥}}), a worldwide hit made with the Warner Bros. 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). The studio supplanted Shaw Brothers as Hong Kong's dominant studio by the end of the 1970s and retained that position into the 1990s.

Golden Harvest developed a worldwide film distribution operation and started producing films for an international market and had released eight by 1980, including The Amsterdam Kill (1978) starring Robert Mitchum and The Boys in Company C (1978) directed by Sidney J. Furie. It also released Jackie Chan's first film for the international market, The Big Brawl (1980), although it did not match the success of Enter the Dragon. In 1981, The Cannonball Run was a big hit. The studio also made Tom Selleck's first two films with him in a starring role, High Road to China (1983) and Lassiter (1984). Following the disappointing performance of these and others, Golden Harvest quietly withdrew from the US market.

From the 1980s until very recently{{when|date=December 2021}}, the studio produced almost all of the films of Jackie Chan, the studio's greatest asset for years. Golden Harvest has also produced a number of films with Jet Li, Cynthia Rothrock and Donnie Yen.

Starting in 1990, Golden Harvest had a big international success again with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy.{{Cite news| issn = 0458-3035| agency = Reuters| title = 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.| work = Los Angeles Times| access-date = 2018-08-25| date = 1995-02-23| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-02-23-fi-35374-story.html}} Allegedly, the company once attempted to produce a Daimajin film by starring Kevin Costner.Steven Sloss, 2023, [https://www.arrowfilms.com/blog/features/idol-threat-daimajins-colossal-cultural-footprint/ Idol Threat: Daimajin's Colossal Cultural Footprint], Arrow Films

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.{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| last = Murphy| first = Kevin| title = STAR-TV Reaps Golden Film Harvest| work = The New York Times| access-date = 2018-08-25| date = 1993-06-23| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/23/business/worldbusiness/IHT-startv-reaps-golden-film-harvest.html}}

Golden Harvest was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1994.{{Cite news| issn = 0458-3035| last = FARLEY| first = MAGGIE| title = 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.| work = Los Angeles Times| access-date = 2018-08-25| date = 1994-11-18| url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-18-fi-64267-story.html}}

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 ({{lang|zh-Hant-HK|橙天嘉禾娛樂集團有限公司}}).{{Cite web|url=http://www.kungfucinema.com/golden-harvest-aims-high-for-studio-revival-11364|title=Golden Harvest aims high for studio revival|first=Mark|last=Pollard|publisher=kungfucinema.com|access-date=21 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091103103050/http://www.kungfucinema.com/golden-harvest-aims-high-for-studio-revival-11364|archive-date=3 November 2009|url-status=dead}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chinahollywood.org/chinese-film-studios|title=Chinese Film Studios {{!}} China Hollywood Society|website=www.chinahollywood.org|access-date=2019-09-16}}{{Cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/brief-aid-life-science-says-063026166.html|title=BRIEF-AID Life Science Says Wu King Shiu, Kelvin Resigned As CEO|website=finance.yahoo.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-16}}

In October 2017, Golden Harvest acquired the other 50% stake of Golden Village from its joint venture partner, Village Roadshow, and therefore having full ownership of Golden Village.{{cite web|url=https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/hong-kong-shareholder-buys-remaining-golden-village-singapore-stake-after-blocking|title=Hong Kong shareholder buys remaining Golden Village Singapore stake after blocking mm2's bid

|date=2 October 2017|access-date=17 June 2018}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/mm2s-bid-to-acquire-50-of-golden-village-village-cinema-chain-falls|title=mm2's bid to acquire 50% of Golden Village cinema chain falls through|publisher=The Straits Times|date=24 July 2017|access-date=17 June 2018}} It is unknown whether the Village name will be dropped from Golden Village as a result of the acquisition.

Cinemas

Image:GH Grand Ocean.JPG]]

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.{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2017/film/spotlight/golden-village-celebrates-30-years-of-exhibition-innovation-1202450645/|title=Golden Village Celebrates 30 Years of Exhibition Innovation|date=2 June 2017|work=Variety|access-date=9 Dec 2018}}

The company has recently acquired Warner Village in Taiwan.

Films produced

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}}