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 and zman1997

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

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.

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 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 "ARTISAN", 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 "ENTERTAINMENT" all in Trajan Pro appears underneath.

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.
• 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 be used 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, the logo was shown before Artisan's trailers with a "www.artisanent.com" web address underneath.
• For the later version, the web address appeared underneath the logo occasionally.
• Films that plastered 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, exists as well.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Usually silent. Some films use their respective opening theme.

Audio Variants: 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 did even have a standalone jingle at one point, consisting of a synthesized twinkling tune.

Availability: Seen 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 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 of The Way of the Gun, Wishmaster II, and the U.S English-dubbed version of Black Mask. This variant also plastered 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 were 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, Vestron Pictures, and others—were either plastered over or removed and replaced with Artisan.
• It appears on later FHE and FHE Kids videos such as Clifford the Big Red Dog releases and Baby Einstein tapes released between 2000-2001 (shown 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 used 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 of Stargate has this logo, but doesn't plaster the MGM logo (which might've been updated on that release).
• This made an appearance on the 2015 DVD of Terminator 2: Judgement Day due to being a reprint of the 2003 DVD.
• This precedes the 1987 New Line Cinema logo on the 2003 DVD of Drop Dead Fred and the 1987 Hemdale logo on the 1998 VHS of The Terminator.
• Among the first releases to use this logo were reissues of Dirty Dancing, "Limited Editions" of the first two Terminator films and the Rambo trilogy (in pan-and-scan and widescreen versions).
• This is also seen on theatrical prints of the film Eulogy, but the home video release plasters it with the 2004 Lions Gate Films logo.
• This makes a surprise appearance on some screener DVDs from 2004-05 released by Lions Gate Home Entertainment under the Artisan label, such as the promotional screener DVD of Danny Deckchair.
• This precedes the opening FHE logo and follows the closing FHE logo on the Pioneer Entertainment DVD release of Speed Racer: The Movie.
• This logo also makes a strange 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 appeared on both a poster and teaser trailer for the film, Lionsgate Films acquired the company shortly before the film was released and removed any mention of the company from the final product.
• Even though this, along with the "Coming Soon to Video & DVD" and "Feature Presentation" bumpers used by Artisan appear on the screener DVD for Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, it never appeared on any DVD or VHS for the film itself, not even on the covers. It may have appeared on theatrical prints of the film, however.
• While the 2004 VHS of The Big Empty uses Lionsgate Home Entertainment on the box and tape ink label, it still uses Artisan trailers and logos on the tape, likely making it the last official release from the company.

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