Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) declared that Shaw Brothers is ready to be Asia’s largest film production company again.
TVB, which owns Shaw Brothers, announced a week ago that they are going to co-produce with Hong Kong and mainland Chinese film companies seven new film projects.
These films include "From Vegas to Macau III" and "Line Walker," a feature version of a TVB crime thriller series released in 2014.
The partner firms of the project are Media Asia and Mega-vision, and Hong Kong directors Wong Jing and Lawrence Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui will be responsible for directing the films.
TVB stated at the FilMart event that its business core would always be filmmaking and that it would "continue Shaw Brothers' tradition of producing quality products."
Virginia Lok Yee-ling, TVB executive, estimated that the combined investments in the seven films would be at least HK$100 million ($13 million).
Shaw Brothers was founded in 1920s, producing about 900 films before it stopped its production in mid-'80s due to extreme competition from Golden Harvest, its biggest rival.
The company instead focused on the TV industry through TVB, its former subsidiary. Sir Run Run Shaw headed the company and was later back in filmmaking and has build new studios in Kowloon's Tseun Kwan O district, but the film produced was marginal. It was later owned by TVB.
TVB, on the other hand, has played an important role in molding Hong Kong's entertainment industry, producing the most respected personalities including Wong Kar-wai, Johnnie To, Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung, who all started having breaks at TVB.
TVB's rivalry with Asia Television gives no threat to the company as its closest rival is near to bankruptcy. However, it is being condemned because of its lack of creativity and being too conservative.
The success of the movie "From Vegas to Macau II," a Mega Vision-produced Hong Kong gambling comedy that has grossed over HK$1 billion ($129 million) globally, was enjoyed by TVB as it was the movie's minority investor.