Artisan Entertainment

Main Trailer Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
Jess Williams

Captures by
Eric S., Logophile, EnormousRat, SubparMario63, GETENT, and zman1997

Editions by
Eric S., Logophile, EnormousRat, GETENT, DannyTheMuppetMan, zman1997 and Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
MachineryNoise, DudeThatLogo, osdatabase, Joseph Sobora (TheRedBaron1985), FanCentralNetwork, laughingduck1000, Sagan Blob, retro VHS trailers, LogicSmash, Peakpasha and Cesar Blanco

Artisan Entertainment, Inc.
Founded:	April 1998 (26 years ago)
Defunct:	2004 (20 years ago)
Fate:	Folded into Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation
Location:	United States
Parent:	Bain Capital (1998-2003) Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc. (2003-2004)
Subsidiaries:	Artisan Home Entertainment Artisan Television Family Home Entertainment Family Home Entertainment Kids

Background

In 1997, Live Entertainment was bought out by Bain Capital, and rebranded the company as Artisan Entertainment in April 1998 in order to disassociate the company with mediocre titles and the controversies that followed the highly-publicized Menendez murders. The company expanded with films from TSG Pictures and a license agreement with Republic Pictures in 1998, a deal with Discovery Communications in 1999, and acquiring a stake in The Baby Einstein Company in 2000. They also had a short-lived family films division, FHE Pictures, named after Family Home Entertainment.

In 2000, Artisan entered into an agreement with Marvel Entertainment to co-produce features. On September 13, 2000, Artisan launched Artisan Digital Media and iArtisan, two subsidiaries of the company. This was followed in 2001 by the purchase of Canadian film and TV studio Landscape Entertainment, which was later renamed to Artisan Television, only to be reverted to the Landscape moniker when Artisan sold its shares to the studio. The company was acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation on December 15, 2003. Artisan was then renamed to "Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc."

Logo (June 23, 1998-April 30, 2005)

• 
  Early variant
• 
  Later variant
• 
  Released by
• 
  Chrome
• 
  Website with early logo
• 
  Website with normal logo
• 
  "Pictures"
• 
  Suicide Kings/The Miracle Maker

Visuals: On a black background, the word "A R T I S A N", in a rectangular box with the leg of the "R" extended, fades in while it is zooming towards the screen. It stops at a distance and the word "E N T E R T A I N M E N T" appears underneath. The entire text is in Trajan Pro.

Variants:

• In Artisan's very early days, a simpler version of this logo was used: just the word "ARTISAN" in a box with a very small "ENTERTAINMENT" underneath, zooming up quickly without a fancy "R". This also animates quicker. Occasionally, as it appears on the DVD release of Merlin, "ENTERTAINMENT" fades in like in the standard version.
• On Artisan prints of Suicide Kings and The Miracle Maker, the early version is gold.
• A still version with the logo done in a "chrome" effect exists. This was only known to appear on the trailer for The Blair Witch Project, and to date has not been spotted on Artisan films.
• Trailers later used a shorter version of the standard Artisan logo.
• For home entertainment releases from 1999, such as The Blair Witch Project, the logo is shown before Artisan's trailers (which, at the time, were typically preceded by a promo about video releases) with a "www.artisanent.com" web address underneath.
• For the later version, the web address appears underneath the logo occasionally.
• Films that plasters other companies' logos over with this logo would either slow down the logo's animation, or loop it after the animation ends, to match the length of the original logos' duration.
• A version with "released by" (in an incredibly tiny font) over the logo exists.
• A later version with "PICTURES" in the same font as the Artisan text, placed in an additional box beneath the original, with an Artisan Entertainment byline underneath, also exists.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Usually silent.

Audio Variants:

• Some films use their respective opening theme.
• Sometimes, the outcome of Artisan's plastering attempts would leave the original distributors' logo themes intact. Examples are the DVD releases of Cadence (with the Movie Group fanfare), Bad Lieutenant (with the Live Entertainment theme), and Stargate (with the 1994 or 1995 MGM roar).
• It does even have a standalone jingle at one point, consisting of a synthesized twinkling tune.

Availability: This appears on all Artisan releases of the era.

• The earlier variant appears on titles from 1998-2000, including The Way of the Gun and the beginning of the 1999 DVD release of Narrow Margin.
• The normal version also appears on some theatrical releases such as The Blair Witch Project, and the beginning of the 2001 DVD release of The Way of the Gun, Wishmaster II, and the U.S. English-dubbed version of Black Mask.
  • This variant also plasters over the Interaccess Film Distribution logo on the 2001 UK DVD of The Princess Bride.
• On most Artisan VHS and DVD releases, the original distributor's logos and credit mentions are left intact, sometimes having Artisan's logo precede them.
  • Some releases of films from lesser known companies (The Movie Group and Kings Road) and former productions released by Live Entertainment, Warner Bros., MGM, TriStar Pictures, Carolco Pictures (Artisan inherited from Live the rights to Carolco's catalog), Vestron Pictures (Vestron's catalog was also inherited from Live by Artisan), and others are either plastered over or removed and replaced with this.
• It also appears on later FHE and FHE Kids VHS releases such as both Clifford the Big Red Dog and Baby Einstein VHS releases released between 2000-2001 (appears at the end, after the FHE Kids logo), as well as the 1999 reprint of The Littlest Angel, and The Littlest Angel's Easter (which uses the early version). In this case, this logo normally appears before the others.
  • It also shows up on Hallmark Home Entertainment, Hallmark Hall of Fame and Discovery Networks (Discovery Channel Video, Animal Planet Video and TLC Video) releases from the time-period.
• The 2003 DVD release of Stargate has this logo; however, it does not plaster the MGM logo (which might've been updated on that release).
• This logo also makes an appearance on the 2015 DVD release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) due to being a reprint of the 2003 DVD release.
• It also precedes the 1987 New Line Cinema logo on the 2003 DVD release of Drop Dead Fred, and the 1987 Hemdale logo on the 1998 VHS release of The Terminator.
• Among the first releases to use this logo are the reissues of Dirty Dancing, "Limited Editions" of the first two Terminator films and the Rambo trilogy (in pan-and-scan and widescreen versions).
• This logo also appears on theatrical prints of the film Eulogy; however, the home video release plasters it with the 2004 Lions Gate Films logo.
• It also makes an appearance on some screener DVD releases from 2004-05 released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment under the Artisan label, such as the promotional screener DVD release of Danny Deckchair.
• It also precedes the opening FHE logo and follows the closing FHE logo on the Pioneer Entertainment DVD release of Speed Racer: The Movie.
• It also makes an appearance on the Platinum Disc/Echo Bridge DVD releases of Howling IV: The Original Nightmare.
• The 2004 version of The Punisher doesn't feature this logo; although Artisan produced the film and the logo appears on both a poster and teaser trailer for the film, Lionsgate Films acquired the company around four months before the film was released and removed any mention of the company from the final product. The actual movie uses a variant of Lionsgate's then-new logo.
• Even though this, along with the "Coming Soon to Video & DVD" and "Feature Presentation" bumpers used by Artisan, appears on the screener DVD release for Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, it never appears on any VHS and DVD releases for the film itself, not even on the covers.
• While the 2004 VHS release of The Big Empty uses Lionsgate Home Entertainment logos on the box and tape ink label, the actual tape still uses Artisan trailers and logos, likely making it the last official release from the company.
• It also appears at the end of the 1976 movie The Cassandra Crossing, following the 1987 ITC Entertainment "Gold Diamonds" logo on the 1999 DVD release thereof by Pioneer/Artisan Entertainment.

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