Member KyFi Posted January 6, 2010 Member Share Posted January 6, 2010 I watched 7 Man Army again last night, and was impressed by the scope of that one---hundreds of uniformed extras, some pretty big-scale battle scenes----heck, even artillery, 3 planes and 8-10 tanks. I would have to think this would have been one of the Shaws more expensive productions. Does anyone have any definitive list of what Shaw movies cost the most to make? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member AbeRudder Posted January 6, 2010 Member Share Posted January 6, 2010 I think i remember reading that Martial Arts of Shaolin was one of the most expensive movies made at the time. The amount of extras they had and the locations probably cost loads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member QueMuchita Posted January 8, 2010 Member Share Posted January 8, 2010 Because Shaw released many films in one year, I'd like to know if certain movies were considered to be the 'big' movie of the year or were they all just released with the same promotion or what not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member peringaten Posted January 8, 2010 Member Share Posted January 8, 2010 Knew you wouldn't get much response to this... tried this topic in the past. Anyhoo, guessing Shaws biggest budgets... Last Woman Of Shang - huge budget this one - such a big investment they recycled some of the epic battle footage in a few flicks just to get their monies worth. Has to be one of the biggest. Outside Tiger Killer Li Han Hsiang isn't talked about much on this forum, but he was possibly Shaws' biggest director, one of their most trusted, he commanded some of their biggest budgets; he may be remembered for a bunch of softcore cheapies (these helped fund his epics), but he was the original money maker for the studio... '50s onward, off the back of the success of Diau Charn, Kingdom & the Beauty, Love Eterne he was the director who initially brought in the bucks and in respect was given the biggest budgets - he was the Brothers' investment & studio establishment director with his huangmei opera works. If I'm not mistaken he was given Shaws biggest ever budget for his two dowager films - Empress Dowager & Last Tempest in the mid-'70s (again the studio recycled footage from their investment in these)... IIRC (wold possibly need to check again), I remember the commentary track on Celestials Empress release states the budget for that was around 2 million dollars... Now if you watch that Whicker's World Shaw special I think he states that for one of Chang Cheh's bigger productions of around the same era, Water Margin, the studio spent (again IIRC) 700,000 dollars, it gives a gist... I think the biggest budget Chang Cheh ever got was possibly Boxer Rebellion. So... Last Woman Of Shang, Empress Dowager, Last Tempest, Boxer, a few other early CC's, Li Han Hsiang in historical mode, that's as big as the studio ever got budget wise. There's no way every film got the same level of promotion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member vengeanceofhumanlanterns Posted January 9, 2010 Member Share Posted January 9, 2010 I do remember seeing the Heroic Ones trailer touting it to be the largest budgeted Shaw film of it's time. A purported over a million dollar budget. As well, I think that bridge in New One Armed Swordsman, Water Margin, etc. was said to have been made for Heroic Ones in that same trailer. I'm not positive on that one. It has been years since I'd seen that trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted January 9, 2010 Author Member Share Posted January 9, 2010 Cool, thanks for the info. I'm not that familiar with the non-martial arts Shaws, but that says something that the budget for Empress Dowager was almost three times that of Water Margin, which I would think would have been one of their more expensive productions. I would agree with you guys that Boxer Rebellion and Heroic Ones were probably right towards the top of the list (as far as martial arts). If I had to guess, I'd probably say these were some of the biggest budget martial arts Shaws: Boxer Rebellion Heroic Ones 14 Amazons Blood Brothers Water Margin Seven Man Army It's hard to judge some of those 60's swordplays---some of them had lots of extras and costumes, and some spectacular outdoor scenes. Maybe some of the Monkey Goes West movies, as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BaronK Posted January 9, 2010 Member Share Posted January 9, 2010 Well, it was known that Shaw's wasn't allowed to take their money made in Taiwan, so they had to spend it. Reason why CC took the crew over there for years(Chang's Film Company). Anything big budget made during those years makes sense by default. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SilverRoc Posted May 7, 2010 Member Share Posted May 7, 2010 I was wondering out of curiosity what is the biggest Shaw Kung Fu movie ever produced? I mean budget,extras, and scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member gorhama Posted May 7, 2010 Member Share Posted May 7, 2010 I'm not sure but I would have to think THE WATER MARGIN would be one of the biggest productions from the huge cast to the locations and the interior sets!! I'll have to watch that again...maybe tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Fang Shih-yu Posted May 7, 2010 Member Share Posted May 7, 2010 I'm not sure but I would have to think THE WATER MARGIN would be one of the biggest productions from the huge cast to the locations and the interior sets!! I'll have to watch that again...maybe tonight. "The 14 Amazons" came out the same year as "The Water Margin", and it was hyped in an original trailer as "TWO YEARS IN THE PLANNING! ONE YEAR IN THE MAKING!" It definitely looks like it had a substantial budget, to look at the end product! Maybe it cost MORE than "The Water Margin"! I'm sure there are stats as to costs of Shaw movies; we await anyone who can answer this! Now, if XTREMEHORSEMAN means Shaw films IN GENERAL, then maybe one of those Chinese Operas they did has the highest pricetag on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member peringaten Posted May 7, 2010 Member Share Posted May 7, 2010 http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9753&highlight=tempest also, they screwed themselves budget wise with that Twinkle Twinkle film if I'm not mistaken... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Fang Shih-yu Posted May 7, 2010 Member Share Posted May 7, 2010 http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9753&highlight=tempest also, they screwed themselves budget wise with that Twinkle Twinkle film if I'm not mistaken... Nice earlier posting via the link, peringaten! If that's not the final answer, it must come close! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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