ABSTRACT
The international success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the crossover prominence of its stars and directors in Hollywood has recently led the Hong Kong industry to speculate on the possibilities for higher budget production aimed at global markets.1 There have also been regular reports of US companies preparing to invest enormously in Asian production.2 The failure of films such as The Medallion and The Touch and the experience of Hero and Shaolin Soccer in Miramax’s distribution limbo demonstrate how tenuous such hopes can be. It is particularly relevant at this time to consider the forerunner status of Golden Harvest (hereafter GH) in order to understand the obstacles in the path of Hong Kong companies seeking to globalise regional success.
