Alliance Atlantis

Credits

Descriptions by
MiaFan2010, Nicholas Aczel and Sean Beard

Captures by
Eric S., V of Doom, Subzero917, and Pygmalion X

Video captures courtesy of
EnormousRat, Pepsi9072

Background

Alliance Atlantis was founded in 1998 as a merger of Alliance Entertainment Corporation and Atlantis Communications, both which were founded in 1985. Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest and an affiliate of Goldman Sachs in 2007. The television distribution arm of the company was transferred to Echo Bridge Entertainment, while the movie business was relaunched as Alliance Films. Eventually, Alliance Films was acquired by Entertainment One.

1st Logo (May 18, 1998-August 20, 1999)

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Nickname: "Silver"

Logo: On a black background, the text "ALLIANCE" and "ATLANTIS", in a silver Times New Roman font, rotate and fold into view while spreading apart from each other. A red line draws in, giving off a red glow on the text before dying down.

Variants:

• A filmed variant exists where the red line doesn't have a red glow on the text.
• On TV shows, the logo was usually abridged and had the URL addresses "www.atlantis.ca" or "www.allianceatlantis.com" appear under the logo..
• A early version is said to exist where the logo just had "ATLANTIS" with no red line, but there's no video proof that's online yet and the only photo is a doctored recreation. This was said to have been used on the middle episodes of Season 4 of the 1998 revival of The Outer Limits.

FX/SFX: The text rotating, the line drawing.

Music/Sounds: A brass fanfare, with a reversed cymbal clash and a timpani hit when the line came into view.

Availability: Rare.

• It appeared on The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Beast Wars, The Famous Jett Jackson and NightMan, among other shows.
• This still survives on middle seasons of The Outer Limits (1998) on Comet and the 1999 film, eXistenZ.

Editor's Note: This is merely a prototype logo, as the official logo for the company wasn't revealed yet.

2nd Logo (1999-2000)

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Provided ID could not be validated.

Nicknames: "The Metallic A", "The Frontier of the Australian Logo", "The Alliance A"

Logo: Same the 1991 Alliance logo, but with the word "ATLANTIS" appearing below "ALLIANCE".

Variant: On French-language theatrical films, "VIVAFILM" appears under the rest of the text.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1991 Alliance logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 1991 Alliance logo.

Availability: Rare, as this was another prototype logo, and was only seen on Canadian prints of some movies.

• Examples include the 1999 Canadian VHS of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, the 2000 Canadian VHS release of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and is also said to have been found on the 1999 Canadian VHS release of The Care Bears Adventures in Wonderland.
• It also appears on some Alliance Atlantis distributed DVDs such as Friday and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
• The logo surprisingly shows up on a print of Frostfire on FilmRise.

Editor's Note: Like the logo above, this was also a prototype. This one however appears to have been made quite cheaply, with the "ATLANTIS" wordmark being chyroned in to the Alliance logo, and looking kind of off-center.

3rd Logo (November 1999-2005)

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Provided ID could not be validated.

Nicknames: "Gold-Black A", "Alliance Atlantis A", "The Alliance Atlantis Boomerang", "A of Annoyance", "A of Plastering"

Logo: We see a cloudy gray sky with snow-capped mountains, panning southwest to a batch of clear gemstones below, complete with rainbow lights refracting off them. Two of the gemstones streak into the air, positioning themselves to the shape of a long isosceles triangle, in a nod to the Alliance logo. The image fades into the boomerang-shaped Alliance "Metallic A" but with the bottom left gold and the top right black. The text "ALLIANCE ATLANTIS" is seen below. A spark flies from the bottom to the top as thunder can be seen in the clouds.

Variants:

• A shorter version exists where the "Gold-Black A" and the name are already seen and bigger.
• The company's website address (www.allianceatlantis.com) is sometimes below the name, in the short version.
• On French-language theatrical films, the word "VIVAFILM" appears under the rest of the text. (Vivafilm Ltée. was then called Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm and was their French-Canadian division.)
• An early filmed variant exists, where the colors are darker and the final result looks a little more realistic.
• Later films had a legal disclaimer appear below the logo (accompanied by an asterisk above the trademark symbol next to the logo).

FX/SFX: Nice CGI, basically an update of the 1991 Alliance logo.

Music/Sounds: A powerful orchestral tune.

Music/Sounds Variant: An alternative fanfare exists on some films where some of the music is replaced with a few reverberating notes, in different pitches.

Availability: Common.

• This can be seen on older Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes on DVD, the 2000-2004 seasons of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and the final few seasons of The New Outer Limits, among other shows.
• It can also be seen on Canadian VHS/DVD releases from the era including Little Bear: Dreams & Make Believe, Red Scorpion 2, Pokemon 4Ever, Animal Farm, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Rush Hour, Scary Movie 3, Maelstrom, Waydowntown and The Barbarian Invasions, among others.
• Seen on a True Movies UK (now Sony Movies Classic) airing of the 1996 TV movie Golden Will: The Silken Laumann Story.
• This logo plasters the 1991 Alliance logo on DejaView reruns of Due South.

Editor's Note: A solid logo that updates the 1991 Alliance logo to excellent results, though the orchestral tune sounds strangely similar to the 1996 Tyne Tees Television Channel 3 North East logo.

4th Logo (September 7, 2004-June 23, 2008)

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Nicknames: "Golden A", "Alliance Atlantis A II", "The Alliance Atlantis Boomerang II", "A of Annoyance II", "A of Plastering II"

Logo: On a dark cloudy background with a yellow light (a la NBC Universal) with a couple yellow lines, we see the "A" logo from before, in various close-ups. We see part of the text "ALLIANCE ATLANTIS" (or for French-Canadian releases, "ALLIANCE ATLANTIS VIVAFILM") in Wide Latin, rotating, and finally we zoom out as the logo and text rotate into place, and then turn to face the screen. A spark appears on the bottom-left, and moves to the top and brightens.

Variants:

• A short version exists with the logo in place and shining.
• A medium version starts from when the name rotates out.
• Sometimes, a legal disclaimer appears below the logo (accompanied by an asterisk above the trademark symbol next to the logo).

FX/SFX: The closeups of the logo, the logo and text rotating into place. This was done by Canadian design agency ZINK.

Music/Sounds: A majestic brass/string fanfare with a short drumroll after the first few notes. It may be shortened depending on the variant. Sometimes, the music is re-arranged to be less dramatic and calmer. Composed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Availability: Uncommon.

• This appears on Alliance Atlantis DVD releases of the period.
• It's also seen on 2004-2007 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (including the first 9 episodes of the 2007-2008 season), all episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation from 2004-2008, and on Dragon Booster.
• A sped-up PAL version can be found on the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD release of Prom Night (1980), as the print used appears to be sourced from a PAL master converted into NTSC.

Editor's Note: Since 2013, Entertainment One (who owns the assets of Alliance Films (the successor company to Alliance Atlantis for movies)) has used the fanfare music for their logo.