Sahamongkol Film International

Background
Mongkol Cinema Company Limited (บริษัท มงคลภาพยนตร์ จำกัด) is a Thai motion picture production and distribution company. It is the leading movie company in Thailand, ahead of GMM Grammy's GMM Tai Hub, Five Star Production, and RS Film. The company is privately owned and run by its founder and chief executive, Somsak Techaratanaprasert, who is also known as "Sia Jiang". The company's films include the international hit martial arts films, Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, Tom-Yum-Goong and Chai Lai, and the Nak animated movie, as well as recent romantic comedy hit drama film First Love. It distributes foreign films in Thailand through its Mongkol Major distribution company.

1st Logo (1977)
Nicknames: "Boring Sahamongkol Logo", "The Early Sahamongkol Film"

Logo: In a purple marble (or space) background, we see in yellow with a simple 3D effect, the Sahamongkol name in Thai, with the words "Presents" in Thai below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic horn fanfare.

Availability: Seen on ไอ้ขลุ่ยล่า.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1978)
TBA

3rd Logo (1980)
Logo: In a space background, the Earth zooms in, then, a gold model of Buddha on the leaf (the Sahamongkol logo) fading in and zooming in. When the logo stops zooming, the background (along with Earth) changes to a starfield. The logo slides to left. The Thai letters standing for "Sahamongkol Film", pop in one-by-one, and other Thai letters translated as "Presents" wipe down.

FX/SFX: Live-action with chroma-key, and 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: Some electronic morse code-like beeps when "Sahamongkol" pops in and a descending synth chime sounds when "Film" wipes. Before it, silent.

Availability: Seen on อีพริ้ง..คนเริงเมือง.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1984-1987)
Logo: On a black background, a star draws a glowing blue "SM" and flashes. The SM turns into a line then explodes, forming a golden leaf with Buddha sitting on it and sliding to left, making the Thai name of the company, and the words "SAHA MONGKOL FILM CO. LTD." also from left.

Variant: A deteriorated (or filmed) variant is also exists.

FX/SFX: The star drawing, the line exploding, the logo forming.

Music/Sounds: A fastly-ascending piano tune which sounds like it came from a keyboard.

Availability: Ultra hard to find. Was spotted on the Thai dub of Maximum Overdrive (1986) and ร่านดอกงิ้ว (which can be viewed here.).

Editor's Note: Although it looks like a rip-off of the 1981 Atlantic Releasing Corporation logo, it still is a pretty good logo.

1st Logo (1980s)


Nicknames: "SM"

Logo: TBA

Variant: A videotaped variant was spotted.

FX/SFX: All in Scanimation, which looks pretty good.

Music/Sounds: A soothing triumphant fanfare that ends suddenly.

Availability: Seen on some movies during the 1980s.

Editor’s Note: None.

2nd Logo (1990s-1999)
Nicknames: "SM II", "CGI SM"

Logo: TBA

Variant: On later releases, the Thai text is different and the name was changed to "SAHAMONGKOL FILM CO., LTD.".

FX/SFX: An excellent placeholder for the best CGI logo.

Music/Sounds: An electronic rendition of the first logo, complete with electronic whooshes, crashes, and explosions. The music ends not that suddenly. For the later variant, a rearranged version of the normal version was used.

Availability: Seen on some movies by the company from the '90s, like Mean Street Blues, the Thai dub version of Tai-Chi Master and Thai dub version of Armageddon.

Editor’s Note: None.