Shaw Brothers Studio, Hong Kong
The Shaw Brothers are probably the most famous name in Honk Kong movie making. 
Originally of Chinese origin two of the brothers, Runme and Run Run, started their connection with the cinema trade by opening film theatres in Singapore from 1924 onwards. The company was called The Shaw Organisation and is still operational today. At one time they owned cinemas and related businesses throughout South-East Asia but now they are confined to Singapore once again.
The movie studio was founded in Hong Kong in1930 and was known firstly as South Sea Film and then later the Shaw Brothers Studio. In 1934 the studio released Hong Kong’s first film with sound entitled “Platinum Dragon”. As mentioned earlier the Shaw Brothers had by this time expanded their cinema operations around Asia and this gave them an ideal distribution method for their films. They also developed amusement parks and other attractions in those countries to which they had expanded.
The second world war brought an end to film production as the Japanese had invaded almost every country in which they operated and requisitioned the various cinemas and production facilities to produce propaganda films. Once the war was over it was back to business as usual and films began to be produced at a prolific rate. The studio’s first internationally recognised success was ‘The Kingdom and the Beauty’ in 1958 and in to the 1960s the films were coming thick and fast. Made without sound and then dubbed into various languages afterwards, at one point a film was finished every nine days.
The Kingdom and the Beauty (1958) with commentary
In the 1970s various actors from the Peking Opera School were featured in films with small parts and these are recognisable names – Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and of course Jackie Chan, the latter now a global superstar.
In 1983 Shaw Brothers studio ceased production in the face of competition, particularly Golden Harvest, and concentrated on their TV production. Twelve years later they returned to the world of film production with releases such as Hero (1997) and Drunken Monkey (2002). The Shaw Studios recently completed an expansion of their facilities in Hong Kong to become one of the global leaders in movie post-production.