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Background

Beijing Polybona Film Distribution Co. Ltd. (simplified Chinese: 保利博纳电影发行有限公司; traditional Chinese: 保利博納電影發行公司), also known as Polybona Films or the Bona Film Group, is a Chinese production company and distributor of films from China and Hong Kong. It is run as a subsidiary of the China Poly Group, and is one of China's largest share-holding film distribution companies. It started up as Beijing Bona Cultural Exchange Co Ltd (北京博納文化交流有限公司) in 1999, and was the first domestic private firm to receive a film distribution license from the State Administration of Radio, Film & TV (國家廣播電影電視總局, SARFT) of China. In November 2003, it merged with the China Poly Group, a wealthy business conglomerate wing of the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, to form PolyBona Film Distribution. The company has distributed over 120 domestic and foreign films, including Confession of Pain, Protégé, The Myth, Initial D, and Dragon Tiger Gate, generating over RMB 1 billion (approximately US$130 million) in box office revenue, capturing over 20% of the overall market share for five years running. It has also co-produced over 20 feature films including The Warlords, Red Cliff, Flash Point, and After This Our Exile. It was named "the Chinese Miramax" by Screen International in 2005, and its CEO, Yu Dong, was described as one of "the future’s most influential filmmakers" by The Hollywood Reporter in November 2006. In early 2007, PolyBona became the first privately-owned film company in China in securing international private funds, having successfully closed investments from Sequoia Capital China and SIG Asia Investments. The same year, Variety recognized the successful growth of Polybona Films, and wrote highly about its transforming from Miramax to Paramount. In December 2010, Bona Film Group (博納影業集團) was the first Chinese film company to get listed on NASDAQ (BONA) with Polybona, Cinema Popular (人人電影) and Distribution Workshop (發行工作室) as subsidiaries. Fox's parent company, News Corporation, also has a 19.9% stake in Bona. In 2014, the company had a 10% share of the Chinese box office, earning CN¥3 billion from 12 films released. The same year, the company was the fourth-largest film distributor in China, with 5.99% of the market. As of April 2015, the company was worth US$542 million. In Q1 of 2015 it had a gross profit of US$45 million, a revenue of US$117.6 million and a box office gross of US$257 million. In November 2015, it was reported that Bona invested US$235 million in TSG Entertainment, resulting in a stake in six films distributed by 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios), including The Martian (2015). In 2016 the company had a market share of 9%, with a gross of CN¥3.7 billion (US$532.2 million).

Polybona Films

1st Logo (early 2000s?-mid 2000s?)

Logo: The camera pans up to reveal shines a sculptured wall with clouds, that's about to be illuminated and colored. When the camera is about to zoom in into the colored environment, clouds come out of the wall and the word "POLYBONA" appears in the sky; along with some Chinese letters zoom in into the logo. When the chinese text gets closer to the english text, the sky background turns into a navy blue color and "F I L M S" in spaced out letters appears while a purple arc wipes and appears below that.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: A powerful orchestrated fanfare.

Availability: Seen on the very first films from the company.

2nd Logo (mid 2000s?-2010?)

Logo: Same as before, and in this logo we now see the new decorative CGI lightballs instead of the old ones on a darker background to reveal the left camera view of a CGI scene then clouds appear to reveal a sky background. When it does so the word "POLYBONA" appears with a purple arc below the word. When the camera gets closer to the english text the sky background suddenly turns to black with the word "F I L M S" in spaced out letters and the Chinese letters fades in and the word "POLYBONA" turns white with an light blue rectangle inside it. The logo stays still for a few seconds before it fade out.

Variants:

There's an still variant on a white background exists where the logo is brighter and next to it has a version where has 4 different Chinese letters with a black line and below it has the words "POLYBONA FILMS".
Another still variant also exists on the same background where the logo is at the top and below has the English words "POLYBONA FILM DISTRIBUTION CO., LTD. above the different Chinese letters.
A filmed version also exists.

Technique: Same as before.

Music/Sounds: Same as before.

Availability: Common. ^[Examples?]

Bona Entertainment (first era)

(2009?-2011?)

Logo: On a blue background we see the same logo from the first two logos but it has "BONA" without the word "POLY" and below has the word "Entertainment" and another reads "Member of Bona International Film Group in it.

Technique: It's a still logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: It was last seen on some films made by the company.

Bona International Film Group

(2010s?)

Logo: Same as the two Polybona Films logos, except the CGI is already coloured when it rises and then the same CGI turns into clouds and some of them began to appear like a wave. Then it changes to some clouds and then it reaches to a very different sky background with the text has been changed to "BONA INTERNATIONAL FILM GROUP" with the Chinese translation atop it. The animation also appears to be enhanced and unlike the last two logos the sky background doesn't fade out.

Technique: Same as the Polybona Films first logo.

Music/Sounds: The re-arranged fanfare from the Polybona Films logo. Sometimes, it used the original fanfare.

Availability: Used to be common in China, but rare nowadays.

Bona Entertainment (second era)

(2011?)

Logo: On a light blue background, we see the word "BONA" in blue text and we see the white spotlight in "BONA" text. Below the word "BONA", we see some Chinese characters.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare.

Bona Film Group

1st Logo (2011-2015)

Logo: We see the scenes of a CGI picture of a dragon then suddenly we see the lightballs. Lightballs form a CGI as the camera pans off hence the CGI gets everything colored afterwards fading in all the way from the right side to the left side. Then it turns into CGI clouds and the words "BONA FILM GROUP" with chinese characters appear in a different sky background, then a spotlight shines and turns the logo into light blue and like the Bona International Film Group logo the background doesn't fade out.

Variants:

Sometimes, the Chinese characters is changed.
On Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D, the logo is in blueish-greenish tint, and it is zoomed in.
Some films have the logo shortened.

Technique: Same as the Bona International Film Group logo.

Music/Sounds: The Bona International Film Group fanfare. On some movies, the fanfare is shortened.

Availability: Common. Seen on Bona Film Group movies from 2011-2015.

2nd Logo (2015-)

Logo: Same as the first Bona Film Group logo, but it zooms in on a wholly different sky background to reveal the CGI words: "B O N A", "F I L M" and "G R O U P" in blue Chinese text. A few seconds later, we see a blue-white spotlight in "B O N A" text and like the Bona International Film Group logo and the first logo the background doesn't fade.

Variants:

Some films have the logo shortened like the previous logo.
Like the previous logo, the Chinese characters is changed is seen on some films.

Technique: Same as before.

Music/Sounds: Same as before.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Some films have the fanfare shortened just like the first logo.
On Bloodshot, it's the opening theme to the movie.

Availability: Current. Seen on movies that the company produced from 2015 onwards such as League of Gods, Bloodshot and A Dog's Way Home.

Here is the logo history of the company (excluding the second Bona Film Group logo):

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 '''Music/Sounds:''' A powerful orchestrated fanfare.
-'''Availability:''' Rare. Seen on the very first films from the company.
+'''Availability:'''  Seen on the very first films from the company.
 ===2nd Logo (mid 2000s?-2010?)===
@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 '''Music/Sounds:''' None.
-'''Availability:''' Rare. It was last seen on some films made by the company.
+'''Availability:'''  It was last seen on some films made by the company.
 ==Bona International Film Group==