Compiled by Kris Starring and Kylejaker1988
Videos by videos4everybody and michaelericm

1st Open
(1980-1987)


Nickname: "Rainbow Feature Presentation"

Logo: On a dark blue background, with a black CGI floor, the camera turns counter-clockwise to see rather cheap rainbow "fireworks" exploding. The fireworks eventually form the then-current CINEMAX logo, which has the words "CINEMAX" in light blue, enclosed inside a dark blue oval. As the background turns to black. It zooms away and more fireworks begin to form "Feature PRESENTATION". "Feature" is pink and is slanted upward and "PRESENTATION" is in blue in a rounded font. It begins to zoom away and gets dissolved by more "fireworks".

FX/Cheesy Factor: The fireworks exploding/dissolving.

Music: A loud, proud, syntheized fanfare.

Availability: Extinct, last seen on Cinemax in the mid-'80s. Check some old videotapes for it.

Scare Factor: High, the music will scare a few.



2nd Open (Alternate)
(1985-1987)


Nickname: "Moviemania"

Logo: We pan across a wall where we see a movie poster unfurling in a frame. We zoom into it and first we see an asteroid firing in outer space where the word "THRILLS" in blue/white zooms out and turns to face us. We then cut to a person's arms struggling to hold to a rope that's about to break and eventually falls. The orange word "SPILLS" wipes onto the screen. Then we cut to see a monster's hand rise up from a graveyard, where the green word "CHILLS" appears in monster-form. And finally to a man and a woman laying down and beginning to make love where the word "Romance"" in a pink, cursive font draws itself onto the screen. Then we oom out on a black background where we see the Cinemax logo in a shade of blue and pink plastered on a series of orange lights. And the red/orange word "Movie" zooms out in a stylized font and appears below.

FX/Cheesy Factor: Pretty much all live-action animation. Except for the drawing and zooming out of the words.

Music: A syntheized, heroic-like fanfare.

Availability: Extinct, this was used in tandem with the 1980 open.

Scare Factor: Low to moderate.






3rd Open
(1987-1994)


Nickname: "The Palette"

Logo: We begin in a black CGI enviornment with different colored circles. We see a slate. It claps and zooms out onto a gray bar that moves onto the screen from the left. Another gray bar moves from the right, and the bars form a piece of film with a typical film countdown leader going inside it (3, 2, 1...). We zoom around the film past some abstract shapes of various colors. Some abstract cut letters spelling out the words "CINEMAX MOVIE" float past the screen. We begin to rotate and zoom in on the abstract "E" in "MOVIE" (which is a red square with two yellow triangles) which splits apart into a purple marble square on the bottom, a wooden square in the middle, the red square and yellow triangles on the top which float off the screen. We pan along the wooden square which turns out to be a wooden palette with color test patterns where the paint would be. Zooming out, we see paralellograms with the letters "c i n e m a x", which are italicized as well (ala the old BBC logo), zoom in onto the palette from the right. The abstract cut letters for the word "MOVIE" (except for the "O" which is the finger hole in the palette) come down from the top of the screen and plaster themselves onto the palette. Now, we see the entire palette. An invisible light shines back and forth on the /c/i/n/e/m/a/x/ logo, and the letters in "M VIE" begin to sway back and forth. Small multicolored particles move from the left of the screen and travel behind the palette.

FX: Top notch late 80's CGI from Pacific Data Images.

Cheesy Factor: All the abstract cut shapes. Very tacky design typical of the time, like the Saved By The Bell credits or CBS's 1990-91 graphics campaign.

Music: An 80's synth/electronic guitar score. Around 1990, it was changed to a rather bouncy hip-hop tune.

Availability: Extinct, was last seen on Cinemax around 1994 or 1995. Check those old tapes for the logo!

Scare Factor: Low



2nd Open
(1994-1997)

Nickname: "Golden Ushers"

Logo: We see an old-style movie countdown, which starts at 7. The film it's printed on flies down to a giant bucket of popcorn with popcorn flying out of it, and forms a staircase. Dots-like candy hops down the stairs. We zoom to see various golden ushers. One of them walks out onto a film canister, holding its flashlight. We fade to the usher and film canister on a black background. It points its flashlight to the right, which is an area full of filmstrips. We rapidly zoom past the strips, until we encounter the Cinemax logo, in purple and reversed, split into pieces. They slide into place as rainbow light refracted from the filmstrips rushes towards them. The camera turns around, to reveal the logo in red, in its normal state, and in the normal theater environment, with "THE" and "MOVIE" above and below it, respectively.

Variants: There are two shorter versions, one that cuts to the finished logo after the usher walks out, and one that starts with the usher in the dark environment. Also there's a version that starts with a rollercoaster ride down the stairs.


FX: Mindblowing CGI, impressive by mid-90s standards.

Music: A majestic fanfare with some strings, orchestra hits and piano.

Availability: Once again, gone from TV for good, check those old tapes!

Scare Factor: None, a great open, very professional.