Compiled by James Fabiano, Kris Starring and Zach Harden


1st Open
(1970's-1983)


Nickname: "The HBO Feature Marquee"

Logo: We start out with a space background with a light grid sheet at the bottom running. Then, we see searchlights on the left and right sides, and criss-cross together. At the same time, blue lights appear and yellow rays rain throughout out of the blue light, changing into blue rays, then yellow circles, then yellow zigzags, then colorful criss-cross lines, then blue and yellow straight lines, and finally wavy lines with curvy lines. Then we pan up to the searchlights up close, and the searchlights reveal a box of popcorn, which completely disappears. Then we see yellow animated drawn popcorn moving then falling down with a "shadow" effect. Then, the same popcorn reveal a marquee with the lines and designs (looking like the Orpheum or Pantages theater), and the marquee zooms up. Then, we move to a plain black screen, and the words "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" one above each other zooms and pans down in a "shadow" effect. Then, lines appear behind each word, and the words turn red. The bars shine repeatedly.

FX: Everything; pretty cool effects for the time.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral theme that sounds like it's from Sesame Street.

Availability: Extinct outside of tape trading.

Scare Factor: Low; the music may not sit well with some.



2nd Open
(1983-1999)

Logo: We start with a couple watching TV (tuned to HBO, of course!) in their apartment as they settle down on the couch. The camera pans backwards outside the window to show a somewhat busy city intersection (horns honking, etc.) at twilight. The music starts, and the camera "flies" forward down the street, eventually panning up to reveal the source of the light -- a star (positioned near the top center of the screen) that gets brighter and brighter, and eventually explodes, leaving behind a shiny chrome model monolith. The monolith moves down and across the screen and rotates clockwise, revealing itself as the HBO logo, then turns around one more time as the camera zooms in on the side of the O. The side of the O disappears in a flash of light, revealing a stream of colored rays streaking counter-clockwise around a silver axis, and "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION" (Note: different titles would appear depending on the program) appears, one word atop the other, in a heavy, 3D steely-gray font against an array of purple lines. some more rays sweep across the words and shine, then the BG would fade to black with more flashes from the surrounding rays.

Variants:

• A slightly more common version starts off with the city covered in fog (which slowly clears up), then has the camera pan across the city as usual.
• A short version of the logo that starts before the "big bang" was shown most often.
• There are seven different endings depending on what the special is. They include "HBO Feature Presentation" (the standard version), "HBO Special Presentation", "HBO Family Feature", "HBO Music", "HBO Saturday Night Movie", "HBO Sunday Night Movie", "HBO Special" and "On Location".
• Two versions that used a much cheaper version of the city, HBO monolith, and end card also exist (the other one used "HBO Feature Presentation" in the style of a rebus puzzle, which flipped up into the screen). These were used for April Fools Day.
• Some end cards had the lines colored in a more reddish hue.
  

Music/Sound Variants:

• For the "Family Feature" variant, the music would get softer and play an uplifting theme just after the O disappears.
• For the "HBO Music" variant, a rock guitar tune would play near the end.
• For the "HBO Special" variant, a faster-paced horn tune would play, which sounds kind of like a game show theme.
• One April Fools variant had the theme being played on kazoos.

Availability: Was shown before movies shown on HBO. Check those old tapes!

Scare Factor: Low, due to the somewhat fast movement of the city scene and the flashing at the end. But that notwithstanding, this is a very popular logo.



3rd Open
(1987-1998)

Nickname: "Non-Primetime HBO", "Neon '80s Geometric HBO"

Logo: We see a purple HBO logo across a vertical filmstrip with light rays being shot through it. The camera pans around and zooms back from several CGI squares glowing various neon colors. Then, the lights shoot out the last square and light up a group of small circles glowing rainbow colors, then zoom out to reveal a light-purple HBO logo with "Movie" written in script in a raspberry-like color with the rainbow circles on a black background behind it.

Variant: In Hungary, "Mozi" (Hungarian for "movie") appears below, with the colors appearing brighter. I assume most other countries have "movie" written in their own native language as well.

FX: The pan-down from the CGI squares, the lasers lighting the circle, the zoom out to the HBO Movie logo.

Cheesy Factor: None at all; this is very professional late '80s animation in addition to those neon rainbow colors.

Music/Sounds: A loud electric guitar fanfare, which culminates into what sounds like the beginning of a Depeche Mode song.

Availability: Extinct; last seen on HBO in the mid-'90s. Check those old tapes for the logo!

Scare Factor: Low to medium; the glowing is not as bad as the "HBO Feature Presentation"'s flashing, but that loud synth-guitar music can get to you.



4th Open
(Early '90s)



5th Open
(1999- )

Nicknames: "The Road", "HBO 2000"

Logo: We see a busy street corner with a theater whose marquee reads "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION." We zoom into the theater, pass the box office and into a bright light. We end up zooming down a road in a residential neighborhood with cars driving about. The camera goes through a bridge superstructure shaped like an H. We end up zooming down a rural highway, passing farms and such. After we hit some fog, we are on a mountain road, and we head down a B shaped tunnel. We end up on a desert road at the other end, and we zoom into a truck with an O shaped, cylindrical tank, taking us through another transition. We end up zooming through a CGI rendering of the city from the 1983 opening, and into a skyscraper-filled downtown. Passing through the buildings, we see some spotlights coming from the city's harbor. The camera pans and takes us into an aerial view above the clouds, and we see the harbor spotlights are outlining the HBO logo. The 3D letters "FEATURE" go into place over the HBO logo, and a flash below that brings forth the word "PRESENTATION" on a black rectangle.

Variant: A shorter, much more common version of this logo is avalible, which starts off with the lights lighting up. The full version as described above is rare today.

FX: Breathtaking CGI! A nice computer generated opener inspired by HBO's original stop-motion effort.

Music/Sounds: A reorchestrated version of the 1983 fanfare.

Availability: Currently in use; can be seen before any movie on HBO. The long version usually appears before Saturday night movies.

Scare Factor: None whatsoever. This is a great opening filled with spectacular computer graphics. A suitable successor to the original HBO opener.