Golden Harvest

Background
Golden Harvest (嘉禾娛樂事業集團有限公司) was founded in 1970 by Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho (both former executives of Shaw Brothers) as well as Leung Fung. It dominated Hong Kong box office sales from the 1970s to the 1980s, supplanting Shaw Brothers as Hong Kong's dominant film studio at the time and played a major role in introducing Hong Kong films to the Western market, especially those by Bruce Lee (Concord Production), Jackie Chan (Golden Way Films), and Sammo Hung (Bo Ho Films). In 1976, it acquired Panasia Films Limited from Andrew G. Vajna (later co-founder of Carolco Pictures). Golden Harvest has also produced a number of films with Jet Li and Donnie Yen. Golden Harvest also produced The Cannonball Run and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy in the United States. In 1993, GH sold their entire film library to STAR-TV (later known as Fortune Star).

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.

1st Logo (1970-1972)
Logo: Set on a shot of a wheat field, we see "Impact" in a shielded font similar to the WB shield sitting on what appears to be a wreath. It then fades out to some Chinese text with "Times" below. Then it fades out and is replaced by "Impact" with "Impact" between "DYALI " and "SCOPE ", some Chinese text above it, and "EASTMANCOLOR" underneath.

Technique: Mostly live-action.

Music/Sounds: A slow bombastic fanfare with French horns (Orchestral Opening #2 by Cyril Watters, from the Thomas J. Valentino music library). There is a second fanfare where we start with a drum roll, then 5 changing notes which slow down with 4 notes, then 2 more during "DYALI SCOPE".

Availability: Rare. This logo was frequently plastered with either the 1978 Golden Harvest, or Media Asia Group logos, but now with the GH library under Fortune Star's hands, this logo has begun to resurface again on recent prints.

2nd Logo (1971-1972)
Logo: Set on a shot of a wheat field, we see the same "GH " from before, but without the wreath. The text "A GOLDEN HARVEST PRESENTATION " appears under it. Chinese characters appear left and right of the shield. Then the logo fades out, being replaced by the same Dyali Scope/Eastmancolor info from before but with "IN EASTMANCOLOR "

Technique: Mostly live-action.

Music/Sounds: The second fanfare from the first logo.

Availability: Same as the previous logo.

3rd Logo (1972-1978)
Logo: On a black background, a white "GH" is drawing. Then a thin red line is drawing in the "GH". Finally, a wheat-ear is drawn at the top right side of the "H". Four yellow Chinese characters appear on both sides of the logo, and "GOLDEN HARVEST PRESENTS", also in yellow, appears under it.

Variant: On a Finnish VHS of The Way of the Dragon, it is stretched to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio.

Technique: Cel animation.

Music/Sounds: A suspenseful fanfare followed by xylophone tinkles as the wheatear is drawn, then ending with a loud trumpet fanfare.

Availability: Rare. This logo was frequently plastered with either the 1978 Golden Harvest or Media Asia Group logos. Now with the GH library under Fortune Star's hands, this logo has begun to resurface again on recent prints. This can be seen (in full) on the trailer for When Taekwondo Strikes (1973), which is on the Shout! Factory Angela Mao Ying DVD collection.

4th Logo (1978-January 23, 2003)
Logo: On a black background, we see 4 rectangles appearing each rectangle, forming a "G". Then it zooms out as the "G" changes colors. The "G" finally becomes, and then stops zooming, and "A GOLDEN HARVEST PRESENTATION" in the Helvetica font flashes in under the "G", along with two Chinese characters on both sides of the rectangle. The text sparkles.

Variants:
 * There is a version that lacks the Chinese characters, mainly for international releases of their films.
 * A colored background version (also lacking the Chinese characters) also exists on international prints of GH titles as well as most Hong Kong prints of GH's international productions.
 * There is another version which reads "A GOLDEN HARVEST DISTRIBUTION" in a slightly different font as well as the logo off-center.
 * Sometimes, the Chinese characters are shifted up higher.
 * Around late 1998 to 2003, The logo was slightly redone, the color change of "G" is brightness with wipe effect and the word "A GOLDEN HARVEST PRESENTATION (or DISTRIBUTION)" text is slightly different along with the Chinese text faded with no sparkles.

Technique: Again, cel animation. The later variant is animated digitally.

Music/Sounds: It starts out with 4 drumbeats as the rectangles appear, then a synth tune plays, ending with a high synth note as the text appears. Later on, the music was rearranged with different instruments. Sometimes it may be silent or may have the opening theme of the movie playing over it.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On the 1978 re-release of Return of the Dragon, the Golden Harvest logo has the music from the Bryanston Pictures logo.
 * On some recent Fortune Star prints of GH films, the music from the 1994-2000 Media Asia logo would be heard, due to poor reverse plastering.
 * On Blu-Ray prints of Miracles, it uses the Golden Way Films music, due to an editing mistake.
 * On Interactive Murders, Funny Business, and 2002 (Nicholas Tse Film), the 1978 music is used on the 1998 logo.
 * On 1992 Korean VHS of The Best of the Martial Arts Films, the music was slowed down and it's double low pitched was used.
 * On Big Bullet (1996) the music was rearranged but if you listen closely at the end you can hear the 1978 music combined.
 * On China O'Brien, the music was re-orchestrated to make it more synthesized.

Availability: Common. This is seen on a lot of martial arts and action movies made in Hong Kong, and plasters older ones on occasion. This was subject to plastering with the Media Asia Group logo, but in Fortune Star's hands, has been preserved and restored to some recent prints. The last theatrical appearance to use was My Lucky Star (2003, not Jackie Chan movie). The version with "Distribution" variant of the 1978 logo appeared on some films such as Heart of The Dragon as well as certain Taiwanese films such as The Scalper, and it made a surprise appearance of The Lord of Hangzhou which was released in December 5, 1998.

Legacy: Probably one of the most iconic logos from Hong Kong (and East Asia in general) and is a favorite among Asian film and martial arts fans.

5th Logo (2002-2009?)


Logo: On a black background, we see a "G" and an "H" being drawn. As it is done drawing, a gold square/plate appears, shimmering, with 2 Chinese characters next to it, which zooms out. Then "Golden Harvest" appears under the square/plate.

Technique: Simple CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A more triumphant, more orchestral remake of the 1978 theme, playing in sync with the animation.

Availability: Common. Seen on movies released by the company during that period. It was also seen on their website.