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Orion Pictures
Logo descriptions by James Fabiano, Jeffrey Gray, and Matt Williams
Logo captures by Eric S., Juniorfan88, and Shadeed A. Kelly
Editions by V of Doom, codyfinke, and Shadeed A. Kelly
Video captures courtesy of Eric S. and b4jmusic
Background: Orion was first known as The Orion Pictures Company, that was first started in 1978 as a joint between Warner Bros. Pictures and three former executives of United Artists: Arthur B. Krim, Eric Pleskow, and Robert S. Benjamin. Orion was initially ran under Warner Communications (now TimeWarner) for a while. In 1982, Orion bought Filmways, Inc., after Orion was unhappy with distribution agreements with Warner Communications in the end of 1981. In June 1982, Filmways announced that its name would reincorporate as "Orion Pictures Corporation". Orion did very well as far as making big blockbuster hits and scoring numerous awards, but everything went sour in the mid-1990's when Orion was losing money. The company went bankrupt by the time the new decade rolled. In 1996, Orion Pictures under Metromedia acquired Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment. In 1997, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. acquired Orion and the deal was completed a year later and folded Orion. However, Orion remains currently as an in-name-only unit of MGM. Currently, most of the old films made by Orion are held by MGM under the umbrella of Sony and its partners, except all 1979-1982 releases, which are owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment.
1st Logo
(1979-1981)
Nicknames: "Red/Blue Split", "Splitting Rectangles", "The Orion/WB Combo"
Logo: On a black screen, two rectangles, one blue and one orange, each one tilted forward at a 45 degree angle (making them appear like the floor and ceiling of a tunnel), shoot out towards the center of the screen. When they both connect at the center of the screen, they tilt back 45 degrees, so that they are facing the viewer completely, and enlarge to fill the screen. In the blue rectangle, which is on the top, we see the \\' logo and the words "WARNER BROS." in orange. In the orange rectangle, which is on the bottom, we see the words "ORION (in the same font as in logo #2) PICTURES COMPANY (in a more plain font)" in blue. After a while, the blue and orange rectangles move to each others spot, briefly overlapping. "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" and "presents" fade-in under "WARNER BROS".
Closing Variant: At the end of the credits, we see the text "AN ORION PICTURES/WARNER BROS RELEASE" with "ORION" in its trademark logo font and "WARNER BROS" in its 1972 font from the theatrical logo. We see the byline, "Thru WARNER BROS, A Warner Communications Company", with Warner Bros.' \\' logo in between the name and the company byline.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Pretty much the way I've described it, the animation indeed reeks of early Macintosh/CGI animation or Scanimate.
Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Seen on old VHS releases of such films as Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time After Time and Caddyshack, among others, Extinct on recent videos, all DVD releases and most TV broadcasts of those films and instead replaced with the Warner Communications variation of Orion logo 2. When American Movie Classics or Turner Classic Movies shows Time After Time, the logo is intact, but in AMC's case, only on the letterbox airings. It might be seen on some Orion films on the Encore movie channel, as well on earlier video prints of Wolfen. A recent TV Land airing of Caddyshack kept the logo intact, but did not show the part with the rectangles zooming forth.
Scare Factor: Low, because of the rectangles reversing.
2nd Logo
(1981-1996)
Nicknames: "The Constellation", "Starry Sky"
Logo: We first see a starry sky, then a constellation of stars in the middle shine brighter than the rest. It moves to the left, forms a circle, and spins around until, in a small, but bright flash, it forms a letter "O." Then the letters "RION" appear (by a sliding effect) to complete the logo, which is stylized when a line is drawn across it. The traces of the line remain on the left side of each letter except the "I," which has the line across the whole thing. "An" and "PICTURES RELEASE" (all in light blue) appear above and below the logo accordingly.
Trivia: This logo was parodied in the Family Guy episode "April in Quahog".
Variants:
FX/SFX: The constellation and "Orion" forming.
Cheesy Factor: The way the whole Orion logo appears after the constellation appears is just cheesy, and the stars forming a solid "O" is also pretty cheesy. Still, the logo looks very, very good after over 25 years.
Music/Sounds: Usually, the opening theme of the movie, or it's silent. Sometimes, a horn fanfare against the background of a futuristic sound effect.
Availability: Very common but slowly getting uncommon due to plastering; can be found in a lot of '80s movies and early '90s movies such as the Robocop franchise. A shortened version can be seen at the end of the TV series Green Acres when it is rerun on TV Land or local stations. The earlier variant with the WB byline was seen on movie releases of the era, such as the legendary Arthur, as well on early 80s prints of 1979-1981 movie releases, such as The Wanderers, The Great Santini, and Wolfen among others, plastering the first logo. On television, the MGM logo precedes this on 1982-1996 releases except some films and First Blood. First Blood was the very first movie to use this logo without the Warner Bros. byline. Also found on the DVD release of The Thing With Two Heads and Little Man Tate.
Scare Factor: Low; the appearance of the "O" might scare a few, and the music may startle someone who took a snnoze with the TV on, but other than that, it's very popular and very famous.
3rd Logo
(1996-1998)
Nicknames: "The CGI Constellation", "CGI Starry Sky"
Logo: Very much the same as the Starry Sky logo, but updated for the 1990's, with computer effects. The starfield behind the logo no longer zooms-out as the logo forms, but shoots out towards the screen. The animation is the same, but the stars now have a "trail" that forms the "O", and the forming of the actual logo is different, with a laser light forming the line in the logo. The logo itself is now silvery and 3D, and only "PICTURES" appears below the logo, in the same font as last time. Inside the "Orion" text has an animated landscape.
Variant: There is a B&W variant of this logo for classic AIP movies in B&W.
FX/SFX: This is how you update a logo. The same thing as the popular "Starry Sky" logo, but the nice computer animation and trueness to the original have made this a favorite of those who have seen it.
Music/Sounds: Begins with a variation of the "futuristic sound effect" in the original Starry Sky, then a soft but majestic horn tune. As the logo begins to form, it gets faster and faster, culminating in a majestic hit and three-note sounder.
Availability: Can be found on movies that ranged from 1996 until the year they went bankrupt, which was 1998. On television, the MGM logo precedes this. It can also be seen on the DVD releases of Hell Up In Harlem and Bucktown. Also plasters the 1981 Filmways Pictures logo on the DVD release of Blow Out.
Scare Factor: None.
Logo captures by Eric S., Juniorfan88, and Shadeed A. Kelly
Editions by V of Doom, codyfinke, and Shadeed A. Kelly
Video captures courtesy of Eric S. and b4jmusic
Background: Orion was first known as The Orion Pictures Company, that was first started in 1978 as a joint between Warner Bros. Pictures and three former executives of United Artists: Arthur B. Krim, Eric Pleskow, and Robert S. Benjamin. Orion was initially ran under Warner Communications (now TimeWarner) for a while. In 1982, Orion bought Filmways, Inc., after Orion was unhappy with distribution agreements with Warner Communications in the end of 1981. In June 1982, Filmways announced that its name would reincorporate as "Orion Pictures Corporation". Orion did very well as far as making big blockbuster hits and scoring numerous awards, but everything went sour in the mid-1990's when Orion was losing money. The company went bankrupt by the time the new decade rolled. In 1996, Orion Pictures under Metromedia acquired Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment. In 1997, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. acquired Orion and the deal was completed a year later and folded Orion. However, Orion remains currently as an in-name-only unit of MGM. Currently, most of the old films made by Orion are held by MGM under the umbrella of Sony and its partners, except all 1979-1982 releases, which are owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment.
1st Logo
(1979-1981)
Nicknames: "Red/Blue Split", "Splitting Rectangles", "The Orion/WB Combo"
Logo: On a black screen, two rectangles, one blue and one orange, each one tilted forward at a 45 degree angle (making them appear like the floor and ceiling of a tunnel), shoot out towards the center of the screen. When they both connect at the center of the screen, they tilt back 45 degrees, so that they are facing the viewer completely, and enlarge to fill the screen. In the blue rectangle, which is on the top, we see the \\' logo and the words "WARNER BROS." in orange. In the orange rectangle, which is on the bottom, we see the words "ORION (in the same font as in logo #2) PICTURES COMPANY (in a more plain font)" in blue. After a while, the blue and orange rectangles move to each others spot, briefly overlapping. "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" and "presents" fade-in under "WARNER BROS".
Closing Variant: At the end of the credits, we see the text "AN ORION PICTURES/WARNER BROS RELEASE" with "ORION" in its trademark logo font and "WARNER BROS" in its 1972 font from the theatrical logo. We see the byline, "Thru WARNER BROS, A Warner Communications Company", with Warner Bros.' \\' logo in between the name and the company byline.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Pretty much the way I've described it, the animation indeed reeks of early Macintosh/CGI animation or Scanimate.
Music/Sounds: None, or the opening theme of the movie.
Availability: Seen on old VHS releases of such films as Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time After Time and Caddyshack, among others, Extinct on recent videos, all DVD releases and most TV broadcasts of those films and instead replaced with the Warner Communications variation of Orion logo 2. When American Movie Classics or Turner Classic Movies shows Time After Time, the logo is intact, but in AMC's case, only on the letterbox airings. It might be seen on some Orion films on the Encore movie channel, as well on earlier video prints of Wolfen. A recent TV Land airing of Caddyshack kept the logo intact, but did not show the part with the rectangles zooming forth.
Scare Factor: Low, because of the rectangles reversing.
2nd Logo
(1981-1996)
Nicknames: "The Constellation", "Starry Sky"
Logo: We first see a starry sky, then a constellation of stars in the middle shine brighter than the rest. It moves to the left, forms a circle, and spins around until, in a small, but bright flash, it forms a letter "O." Then the letters "RION" appear (by a sliding effect) to complete the logo, which is stylized when a line is drawn across it. The traces of the line remain on the left side of each letter except the "I," which has the line across the whole thing. "An" and "PICTURES RELEASE" (all in light blue) appear above and below the logo accordingly.
Trivia: This logo was parodied in the Family Guy episode "April in Quahog".
Variants:
- On films from 1981-1982, under the logo itself, there was a byline that said "Thru Warner Bros., A Warner Communications Company," with a little \\' next to the company name and the byline "A Warner Communications Company" underneath. A different starfield was also used.
- In 1984, there is a registered trademark symbol "®" that appears next to the Orion name.
- Closing: The end of each film would say just the same as the opening logo, but on a black background of the end credits. From 1981-1982, the text and byline were in bold and in all caps in the same font used on the 1972 Warner Bros. Pictures logo.
FX/SFX: The constellation and "Orion" forming.
Cheesy Factor: The way the whole Orion logo appears after the constellation appears is just cheesy, and the stars forming a solid "O" is also pretty cheesy. Still, the logo looks very, very good after over 25 years.
Music/Sounds: Usually, the opening theme of the movie, or it's silent. Sometimes, a horn fanfare against the background of a futuristic sound effect.
Availability: Very common but slowly getting uncommon due to plastering; can be found in a lot of '80s movies and early '90s movies such as the Robocop franchise. A shortened version can be seen at the end of the TV series Green Acres when it is rerun on TV Land or local stations. The earlier variant with the WB byline was seen on movie releases of the era, such as the legendary Arthur, as well on early 80s prints of 1979-1981 movie releases, such as The Wanderers, The Great Santini, and Wolfen among others, plastering the first logo. On television, the MGM logo precedes this on 1982-1996 releases except some films and First Blood. First Blood was the very first movie to use this logo without the Warner Bros. byline. Also found on the DVD release of The Thing With Two Heads and Little Man Tate.
Scare Factor: Low; the appearance of the "O" might scare a few, and the music may startle someone who took a snnoze with the TV on, but other than that, it's very popular and very famous.
3rd Logo
(1996-1998)
Nicknames: "The CGI Constellation", "CGI Starry Sky"
Logo: Very much the same as the Starry Sky logo, but updated for the 1990's, with computer effects. The starfield behind the logo no longer zooms-out as the logo forms, but shoots out towards the screen. The animation is the same, but the stars now have a "trail" that forms the "O", and the forming of the actual logo is different, with a laser light forming the line in the logo. The logo itself is now silvery and 3D, and only "PICTURES" appears below the logo, in the same font as last time. Inside the "Orion" text has an animated landscape.
Variant: There is a B&W variant of this logo for classic AIP movies in B&W.
FX/SFX: This is how you update a logo. The same thing as the popular "Starry Sky" logo, but the nice computer animation and trueness to the original have made this a favorite of those who have seen it.
Music/Sounds: Begins with a variation of the "futuristic sound effect" in the original Starry Sky, then a soft but majestic horn tune. As the logo begins to form, it gets faster and faster, culminating in a majestic hit and three-note sounder.
Availability: Can be found on movies that ranged from 1996 until the year they went bankrupt, which was 1998. On television, the MGM logo precedes this. It can also be seen on the DVD releases of Hell Up In Harlem and Bucktown. Also plasters the 1981 Filmways Pictures logo on the DVD release of Blow Out.
Scare Factor: None.
Shadeed329 |
Latest page update: made by Shadeed329
, Aug 19 2010, 1:10 PM EDT
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More Info: links to this page
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| Kylejaker1988 | About Carolco logo | 2 | Feb 21 2010, 9:16 PM EST by Yoshidude987 | ||
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Thread started: Nov 13 2009, 4:09 PM EST
Watch
I don't know if the Carolco logo was ever even used for "First Blood". I heard it had a very grainy 1982 Orion logo at the beginning. The DVD release I have of it has no logo at all.
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| 20thCenturyFoxLover2 | Plastered | 3 | Aug 17 2010, 7:11 PM EDT by 20thCenturyFoxLover2 | ||
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Thread started: Aug 14 2010, 2:28 PM EDT
Watch
The DVD release of Monty Python's "Life of Brian" replaces the 1979 Orion Pictures logo with the Criterion Collection logo, although the Anchor Bay and Sony Pictures DVDs has no logo at ALL. But the 1979 Orion Pictures logo is retained on the original Warner Home Video VHS release.
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| familyfunforeveryone | Cool logo use on "Time After Time" | 2 | Aug 16 2010, 5:14 PM EDT by 20thCenturyFoxLover2 | ||
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Thread started: Aug 15 2010, 5:33 PM EDT
Watch
Somebody put up the 1979 Nicholas Meyer film mentioned in the title, and first of all, the Orion/WB logo combo was intact. But also, they showed the "Time After Time" variant of the 1948 WB shield to lead into the 1940's style opening credits!
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| familyfunforeveryone | 1st logo not on the DVD release of "Time After Time" | 0 | Aug 15 2010, 5:43 PM EDT by familyfunforeveryone | ||
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Thread started: Aug 15 2010, 5:43 PM EDT
Watch
The 1979 Orion Pictures logo doesn't appear on the DVD release of "Time After Time", it just goes straight to the Warner Bros. Pictures logo.
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