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Carolco Pictures
Logo descriptions by Matt Williams and Juniorfan88
Logo captures by juniorfan88, mr3urious, Eric S. and kidinbed
Editions by mr3urious and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy of AsdfDailymotion898, TheAccountSecond77, and Eric S.
Background: Carolco Pictures, Inc. was originally formed in 1976 by Mario F. Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna as "Anabasis Investments" to make a major independent competitor to the Hollywood studios producing A-movie product. In 1984, Anabasis Investments was reincorporated as "Carolco International, N.V." when it also formed Cinergi Pictures Entertainment as their sister company in November 1989. In 1995, Carolco went bankrupt because of the disastrous releases of Showgirls and Cutthroat Island and the company closed soon after. After a long time, they founded C2 Pictures as their new film company in 2002. Today, the ancillary rights to a majority of Carolco's library are held by the French production company StudioCanal, owner of a stake in Carolco. However, Paramount Pictures thru Trifecta Entertainment & Media handles the TV syndication on Paramount's behalf, and Lions Gate Home Entertainment continues to hold the domestic home video rights (via a new output deal with StudioCanal), while the international home video rights are held by a different company for each country. As for Cliffhanger, the film is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. This company didn't use a logo until 1985.
1st Logo
(May 22, 1985-September 4, 1987)
Nicknames: "C in Space", "Space Streaks"
Logo: Against a starry space BG, a blue streak of light zooms out, flashes, and forms 1/3 of Carolco's "C" logo, which is colored bronze. The process repeats two times, working its way outward. Afterwards, the logo shines brightly as the words "CAROLCO" shine in underneath. The logo then sparkles.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The animation and the way the logo looks are indeed tacky.
Music/Sounds: A nice orchestrated piece conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, but on later releases a synthesized jingle was used.
Availability: Uncommon; the three films confirmed to use this logo are Rambo: First Blood Part II, Angel Heart, and Extreme Prejudice. However, Rambo: First Blood Part II, at least on the Artisan tapes, plasters this with the 3rd logo, and a recent AMC broadcast used the 1984 TriStar logo with a high-pitched version of the Carolco jingle. When SPIKE aired said film, the TriStar logo is cut off by a few seconds at the beginning, and the regular-pitch of the Carolco jingle is used. All newer releases of Angel Heart and Extreme Prejudice have the TriStar logo, so your best bets are the IVE and Avid releases of these films.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the glowing effects may get to some, along with the presence of the 1985 music, but it mostly looks tacky.
2nd Logo
(May 1, 1986-November 30, 1988)
Nickname: "Flashing C"
Logo: The logo starts out being in a black background with two silver streaks hitting diagonally from the opposite sides of the screen (lower-left and upper-right corners of the screen). The streaks merge and they have 1 or 2 beams of smaller light coming from them. Afterward, the streaks form a curvy "C". After the "C" is formed, it flashes/shines in a bright orange light, which will remind many of the WGBH "Flash of Doom" logo.
Variant: On the theatrical trailer for Extreme Prejudice, the logo is silent and tinted blue.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Well, certainly the synthesizer music sounds perfect for any late '70s/early '80s logos, and the animation looks fairly cheap if it was used on today's movies. The logo itself is cheesy because it's not too awesome when you see an all-silver logo (with a hint of turquoise and purple) that glows orange. But for its time, this logo was pretty awesome.
Music/Sounds: The synthesized tune from the first one.
Availability: Extremely rare. Can probably be found on Live/IVE releases of First Blood, and may be found on the VHS releases of Extreme Prejudice and Angel Heart (for the latter, it's only on the 1989 reprint),which finding those VHS are now extremely hard to find. The recent HD-DVD release of First Blood from the UK may have it, though, and it may also show up on the 6-disc DVD box set containing all 4 films in the trilogy.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the flashing lights, zooming FX, streaks connecting, and very-cheesy synthesizer may startle some, but otherwise it's not too bad (with the exception of the synthesizer music).
3rd Logo
(March 4, 1988-September 30, 1995)
Nicknames: "Laser Light", "The Laser-Light C"
Logo: Against a black BG, a blue laser carves out a series of curves, making its way inward as it slowly turns up, revealing the "C" used in the previous two films. Then, the logo shines brightly in a "wind tunnel" effect and zooms-out. As the shining ends, the logo is silver-colored, and the words "CAROLCO" fade-in below. The logo shines once more.
FX/SFX: Top-notch '80s CGI.
Music/Sounds: The same music theme played on the first logo, except now it's a little bit more dramatic. Some laser zapping sound effects are also heard as the logo is formed.
Availability: Very common, particularly on big hits such as Terminator 2, Total Recall, Rambo III, and others. The Mario and the Mob variant is extremely rare, as it was only released on video in the UK. Carolco went to TriStar Pictures for 80% of their releases; for most VHS releases Carolco's logo is kept while that of TriStar is cut, with a few exceptions (the TriStar/Carolco logo combo has been seen on DeepStar Six, Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw, Cliffhanger, Basic Instinct, Red Heat and Universal Soldier. When Encore airs Rambo III, the current Paramount Pictures logo plasters the TriStar logo but leaves Carolco's intact; however, when said network airs Deepstar Six, the Paramount logo appears but leaves both TriStar and Carolco logos intact. On Comedy Central's print of Wagons East, after the Live Entertainment logo, it has the 1993 TriStar logo with Carolco's logo.
Scare Factor: None, unless you're not a big fan of lasers or dramatic music. Otherwise, it would qualify as minimal.
4th Logo
(December 22, 1995)
Nickname: "The Still C"
Logo: Just a superimposed in-credit logo of Carolco, the "C" with "CAROLCO" below.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Very rare; only seen on Cutthroat Island, the last movie produced by the company.
Scare Factor: None.
Logo captures by juniorfan88, mr3urious, Eric S. and kidinbed
Editions by mr3urious and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy of AsdfDailymotion898, TheAccountSecond77, and Eric S.
Background: Carolco Pictures, Inc. was originally formed in 1976 by Mario F. Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna as "Anabasis Investments" to make a major independent competitor to the Hollywood studios producing A-movie product. In 1984, Anabasis Investments was reincorporated as "Carolco International, N.V." when it also formed Cinergi Pictures Entertainment as their sister company in November 1989. In 1995, Carolco went bankrupt because of the disastrous releases of Showgirls and Cutthroat Island and the company closed soon after. After a long time, they founded C2 Pictures as their new film company in 2002. Today, the ancillary rights to a majority of Carolco's library are held by the French production company StudioCanal, owner of a stake in Carolco. However, Paramount Pictures thru Trifecta Entertainment & Media handles the TV syndication on Paramount's behalf, and Lions Gate Home Entertainment continues to hold the domestic home video rights (via a new output deal with StudioCanal), while the international home video rights are held by a different company for each country. As for Cliffhanger, the film is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. This company didn't use a logo until 1985.
1st Logo
(May 22, 1985-September 4, 1987)
Nicknames: "C in Space", "Space Streaks"
Logo: Against a starry space BG, a blue streak of light zooms out, flashes, and forms 1/3 of Carolco's "C" logo, which is colored bronze. The process repeats two times, working its way outward. Afterwards, the logo shines brightly as the words "CAROLCO" shine in underneath. The logo then sparkles.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The animation and the way the logo looks are indeed tacky.
Music/Sounds: A nice orchestrated piece conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, but on later releases a synthesized jingle was used.
Availability: Uncommon; the three films confirmed to use this logo are Rambo: First Blood Part II, Angel Heart, and Extreme Prejudice. However, Rambo: First Blood Part II, at least on the Artisan tapes, plasters this with the 3rd logo, and a recent AMC broadcast used the 1984 TriStar logo with a high-pitched version of the Carolco jingle. When SPIKE aired said film, the TriStar logo is cut off by a few seconds at the beginning, and the regular-pitch of the Carolco jingle is used. All newer releases of Angel Heart and Extreme Prejudice have the TriStar logo, so your best bets are the IVE and Avid releases of these films.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the glowing effects may get to some, along with the presence of the 1985 music, but it mostly looks tacky.
2nd Logo
(May 1, 1986-November 30, 1988)
Nickname: "Flashing C"
Logo: The logo starts out being in a black background with two silver streaks hitting diagonally from the opposite sides of the screen (lower-left and upper-right corners of the screen). The streaks merge and they have 1 or 2 beams of smaller light coming from them. Afterward, the streaks form a curvy "C". After the "C" is formed, it flashes/shines in a bright orange light, which will remind many of the WGBH "Flash of Doom" logo.
Variant: On the theatrical trailer for Extreme Prejudice, the logo is silent and tinted blue.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Well, certainly the synthesizer music sounds perfect for any late '70s/early '80s logos, and the animation looks fairly cheap if it was used on today's movies. The logo itself is cheesy because it's not too awesome when you see an all-silver logo (with a hint of turquoise and purple) that glows orange. But for its time, this logo was pretty awesome.
Music/Sounds: The synthesized tune from the first one.
Availability: Extremely rare. Can probably be found on Live/IVE releases of First Blood, and may be found on the VHS releases of Extreme Prejudice and Angel Heart (for the latter, it's only on the 1989 reprint),which finding those VHS are now extremely hard to find. The recent HD-DVD release of First Blood from the UK may have it, though, and it may also show up on the 6-disc DVD box set containing all 4 films in the trilogy.
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the flashing lights, zooming FX, streaks connecting, and very-cheesy synthesizer may startle some, but otherwise it's not too bad (with the exception of the synthesizer music).
3rd Logo
(March 4, 1988-September 30, 1995)
Nicknames: "Laser Light", "The Laser-Light C"
Logo: Against a black BG, a blue laser carves out a series of curves, making its way inward as it slowly turns up, revealing the "C" used in the previous two films. Then, the logo shines brightly in a "wind tunnel" effect and zooms-out. As the shining ends, the logo is silver-colored, and the words "CAROLCO" fade-in below. The logo shines once more.
FX/SFX: Top-notch '80s CGI.
Music/Sounds: The same music theme played on the first logo, except now it's a little bit more dramatic. Some laser zapping sound effects are also heard as the logo is formed.
Availability: Very common, particularly on big hits such as Terminator 2, Total Recall, Rambo III, and others. The Mario and the Mob variant is extremely rare, as it was only released on video in the UK. Carolco went to TriStar Pictures for 80% of their releases; for most VHS releases Carolco's logo is kept while that of TriStar is cut, with a few exceptions (the TriStar/Carolco logo combo has been seen on DeepStar Six, Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw, Cliffhanger, Basic Instinct, Red Heat and Universal Soldier. When Encore airs Rambo III, the current Paramount Pictures logo plasters the TriStar logo but leaves Carolco's intact; however, when said network airs Deepstar Six, the Paramount logo appears but leaves both TriStar and Carolco logos intact. On Comedy Central's print of Wagons East, after the Live Entertainment logo, it has the 1993 TriStar logo with Carolco's logo.
Scare Factor: None, unless you're not a big fan of lasers or dramatic music. Otherwise, it would qualify as minimal.
4th Logo
(December 22, 1995)
Nickname: "The Still C"Logo: Just a superimposed in-credit logo of Carolco, the "C" with "CAROLCO" below.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Very rare; only seen on Cutthroat Island, the last movie produced by the company.
Scare Factor: None.
Shadeed329 |
Latest page update: made by Shadeed329
, Aug 19 2010, 9:07 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by Shadeed329
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Keyword tags:
Andrew G. Vajna
Carolco
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
Mario F. Kassar
More Info: links to this page
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELIEB | first and second carolco logo on thorn emi/avid releases | 0 | Feb 22 2009, 4:11 PM EST by ELIEB | ||
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Thread started: Feb 22 2009, 4:11 PM EST
Watch
the 2nd carolco logo, confirmed by me--i have the original release of rambo: first blood pt.2 on thorn emi video does have the carolco logo at the start. i also recently bought the avid releases of first blood and rambo: first blood pt.2 a day or two ago.
the first logo is missing on the thorn emi and avid releases of first blood-it shows orion pictures. strangly it is hi-fi for the original release. the second logo is on the avid and thorn emi release of rambo: first blood pt.2.
Do you find this valuable?
Keyword tags:
carolco
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| Logophile | Unique TriStar/Carolco logo combo | 0 | Sep 8 2008, 1:09 PM EDT by Logophile | ||
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Thread started: Sep 8 2008, 1:09 PM EDT
Watch
On Comedy Central's print of the 1994 film Wagons East, we see the Live Entertainment logom followed by the 1993 Tristar logo, then the Carolco logo.
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| grf450 | Nightflyers (1987) (Question) | 1 | Aug 12 2008, 1:25 AM EDT by Greendayfan1997 | ||
Showing 3 of 3 threads for this page
