Background
Sixth of eight siblings, Shaw was born in Shanghai in 1907. His father was the owner of the Shanghai Jin Tai Chang Paint Company.
逸夫 邵
Sixth of eight siblings, Shaw was born in Shanghai in 1907. His father was the owner of the Shanghai Jin Tai Chang Paint Company.
His affluent family background allowed Shaw to receive a Western education in the US. Graduating from high school at age 19, Shaw first followed his brother Runmei to Singapore to pursue a business opportunity it was around that time that he began to develop personal interests in film production.
In 1925, the Shaw brothers established the Tianyi Film Company in Shanghai and made Platinum Dragon, the first movie in Chinese film history to have a soundtrack. In the next few years, Shaw went to Singapore, Malaysia, and other regions to assist his brother in developing movie distribution networks. In addition to film distribution, the Shaw brothers also acquired and developed cinemas throughout the region, and grew to become a dominant firm in film production, distribution, and exhibition.
In 1958, Shaw and his brother established Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. In the 1960s and 1970s, Shaw Brothers Studios was Hong Kong’s main driving force in film production. The brothers began by buying up cinemas all over Southeast Asia, creating an almost monopoly situation whereby they controlled what was shown. Their profits were reinvested in the company in the form of finance for their own movie productions, Shaw Brothers Films. Those films found a receptive audience, and as the money poured in from all over Asia, the quality of the films improved, which further enhanced their success. By the 1970s, the size of their group exceeded 200 screens, in addition to 600 more with distribution agreements, and several over 1000-seat grand houses in Hong Kong. The company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1971. Besides its own productions, Shaw Brothers also distributed international films, and invested in a number of co-productions, among them was Blade Runner in 1982, a Ridley Scott film classic starring Harrison Ford.
In 1967, Shaw launched TVB, Hong Kong’s first wireless commercial television station. However by the 1980s, Hong Kong real estate values had begun to soar, and many of Shaw’s large cinemas were gradually converted for other commercial developments. Meanwhile Shaw had grown TVB into one of the top five television producers in the world based on output, and the world’s largest Chinese-language content provider. In order to focus on the burgeoning television business, Shaw Brothers started to pull back on feature film production in 1987. By that time, Shaw Brothers had produced more than 1000 films, many of which are now Chinese cinema classics. However, Shaw’s passion for film production did not cease with his new success in TV production and communication. In 2000, with little fanfare, the world’s most advanced film production and digital post-production facility started construction in Hong Kong. It became fully operational in March 2008, and situated at the gateway to China, and potentially the world’s largest film market, the US$180 million Shaw Studios is testimony to Shaw’s commitment to filmmaking in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.