Carolco Pictures

Main Trailer Variations

Credits

Descriptions by
Jess Williams, Juniorfan88 and Logophile

Captures by
juniorfan88, mr3urious, Eric S., kidinbed and Logophile

Editions by
mr3urious, V of Doom, DaBigLogoCollector, Vahan Nisanian, Unnepad, TheLogoFan2004 and MitchellShepherd06

Video captures courtesy of
AsdfDailymotion898, TheAccountSecond77, Eric S, TheRedBaron1985, Ryan Holman and Broken Saw

Carolco Pictures, Inc.
Founded:	March 30, 1976 (48 years ago)
Founder:	Mario Kassar Andrew G. Vajna
Defunct:	1995 (29 years ago)
Successors:	C2 Pictures
Location:	United States
Subsidiaries:	Carolco Home Video Carolco Television Productions The IndieProd Company Seven Arts Pictures

Background

Carolco Pictures, Inc. was originally formed in 1976 by film investors Mario F. Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna (the latter of whom previously founded Panasia Films in Hong Kong) as Anabasis Investments to make a major independent competitor to the Hollywood studios producing A-movie products. In 1984, Anabasis Investments was reincorporated as Carolco International, N.V. The name "Carolco" was purchased from a defunct company based in Panama and "has no meaning," according to Kasser.

Carolco's first major success was the 1982 movie First Blood, an adaptation of David Morrell's novel of the same name. The film made $120 million worldwide and placed Carolco among Hollywood's major players. On May 15, 1984, the company entered a long-term agreement from Tri-Star Pictures, then an up-and-coming film distributor and fledging studio. Through the argeement, Tri-Star would provide North American distribution of Carolco's films, while HBO, one of the original three partners in the Tri-Star venture, would handle pay cable television rights and home video distribution rights would be handled by Thorn EMI Video (later Thorn EMI/HBO Video and HBO/Cannon Video). The agreement started in 1985 with Rambo: First Blood Part II and lasted until 1994; Carolco's final film distributed by TriStar was Wagons East!.

Tri-Star and Carolco renewed their partnership in 1986, starting a new multi-feature agreement which called for Tri-Star to distribute forthcoming Carolco products. That same year, Carolco entered home video distribution and acquired International Video Entertainment (which would eventually become Artisan Entertainment), which was going through financial difficulties and was near bankruptcy; Carolco hoped to "turn the company around" with the deal, which was finalized a year later. The company payed $32 million to HBO/Cannon Video in exchange for the video rights to Angel Heart and Extreme Prejudice, both of which were then-forthcoming releases. Carolco then relicensed the films to IVE.

On August 28, 1987, Carolco acquired syndication company Orbis Communications for $15.4 million (Orbis would be merged into Carolco's television unit in 1991). Over the next few years, the company expanded into various other business sectors, including video retail holdings and licensing of their IP. By this point, Carolco focused mainly on big-budget action movies, with major stars such as Sylvester Stallone (who later signed a ten-picture deal with the studio) and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached.

In addition to its own library, Carolco had the television rights to those of The Vista Organization, Hemdale Film Corporation, Island Alive, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (except the Embassy library), and Pacific International Enterprises, as well as several HBO movies, among possible others. Carolco also purchased the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group production facility when DEG closed, and unsuccessfully attempted to buy both Orion Pictures and Media Home Entertainment.

In November 1989, Vajna formed Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, with The Walt Disney Company as a distribution partner; the following month, he sold his share of Carolco to Kasser for $106 million due to increasing disagreement between the two over the direction of the company. In 1990, Pioneer Electronic Corporation of Japan acquired a share of Carolco. Halfway through the year, Carolco entered into a joint venture with New Line Cinema to start Seven Arts Pictures, which primarily released much of Carolco's low-budget output; the venture collapsed by 1992. The company also formed Carolco Home Video, a home video label with what was by then known as Live Home Video as output partner.

By 1992, however, Carolco entered financial trouble, with factors including overspending on their movies through reliance on star power and far-fetched deals (including paying Schwarzenegger a then-unheard-of $10-14 million for his work on Total Recall and Terminator 2: Judgement Day and giving Stallone similar treatment), mixing blockbusters with small-budget, unprofitable arthouse films and losses of partnerships. That year, the company went under a corporate restructuring, invested in by a partnership of Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera of Italy, Le Studio Canal+ of France, Pioneer and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Each partner helped infuse up to $60 million into the studio's stock and another $50 million for co-financing deals. The following year, Carolco was forced to sell its shares in Live to a group of investors led by Pioneer.

Cutbacks at Carolco also played a role in their eventual demise. The studio provided half of the budget for Cliffhanger, another Stallone-led action film, to TriStar, but would have to sell full distribution rights in North America, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and France so it could properly fund the film. This decision wound up hurting Carolco; despite the film being a major box-office success, Carolco saw little profit as the company ended up becoming a minority owner in the movie. Carolco filed a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures, TriStar's eventual corporate sibling, and Viacom in an attempt to gain the home video and television rights to a eventually unrealized Spider-Man movie with James Cameron attached as producer; the lawsuit would backfire when Columbia and Viacom counter-sued Carolco, and the studio also became sued by MGM. These lawsuits, which the studio lost, caused Carolco to lose more money and also cost them the film rights to Spider-Man. Carolco's attempt to make more of its specialties would also prove to be more strenuous; they would be forced to shelve Crusade, another Schwarzenegger vehicle based on a script by Walon Green and with Paul Verhoeven, who worked with Carolco on Total Recall and Basic Instinct, attached as director, in 1994 when that film's budget exceeded $100 million. However, the studio managed to complete a merger with The Vista Organization in late October 1993, and made a new agreement with MGM to distribute its films in North America.

The studio attempted a comeback with Cutthroat Island, a big-budget swashbuckler directed by Cliffhanger director Renny Harlin, and with actor Michael Douglas as the lead. However, Douglas dropped out early in production, and Matthew Modine, a less-bankable actor, was cast as the lead afterward. Female lead Geena Davis, Harlin's then-wife, was already an established A-lister but was coming off a string of flops. MGM hoped to advertise Cutthroat Island based on spectacle rather than cast. Carolco sold off the rights to several films in production, including Last of the Dogmen, Stargate and Showgirls; the French company Chargeurs ultimately brought the latter. The sell-off was done in an attempt to raise more financing for Cutthroat Island, which had a staggering projected $90-100 million budget. The studio ran out of funds in October 1994; Pioneer would then invest another $8 million.

In April 1995, Carolco announced that it was unable to make interest payments on $55 million in debt; that November, the studio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Cutthroat Island was released that Christmas and became a box-office disaster, losing $147 million. Carolco went bankrupt not long after the disastrous release of Cutthroat Island, and the company agreed to sell its assets to 20th Century Fox for $50 million. In January 1996, however, Canal+ made a $58 million bid for Carolco's library. Not long after, 20th Century Fox, which by then lowered its purchase price to $47.5 million, dropped its deal. Carolco closed soon after. Cinergi remained active until it too shut down in 1998 following a string of critically and commercially unsuccessful movies. Kassar and Vajna later reinstated their partnership and founded C2 Pictures, which shut down in 2008.

Film producer Alexander Bafer purchased the Carolco name and logo years later. On January 21, 2015, it was announced that Brick Top Productions, Bafer's production company, had adopted the Carolco name and logo, with Mario Kassar as the company's chief development executive. However, on April 7, 2016, it was announced that Bafer and Kasser had both left the company, Kasser taking with him one of Carolco's planned products, a remake of the 1999 Japanese horror film Audition which he was producing. investor Tarek Kirschen was then inducted as Carolco's CEO. The new Carolco soon ran into legal trouble with StudioCanal over the use of the Carolco name and logo. In 2017, StudioCanal and Carolco reached an agreement whereby StudioCanal would have sole control of the Carolco name and logo and the new Carolco would be renamed "Recall Studios". The arrangement took effect on November 29 of that year.

Today, the ancillary rights to a majority of Carolco's library including the Carolco name and logo are held by StudioCanal. North American TV and streaming rights belong to Paramount Pictures through Trifecta Entertainment & Media on Paramount's behalf, due to a previous TV distribution deal with Worldvision Enterprises, and Lionsgate Home Entertainment continues to hold the domestic and digital home video rights (via a new output deal with StudioCanal), while the international home video rights are held by a different company for each country. Exceptions include Cliffhanger, which is distributed in the U.S. and some foreign territories by Sony Pictures Entertainment (due to TriStar being given complete distribution rights in those territories as explained above), Last of the Dogmen, which was originally released by Savoy Pictures and is now owned by the film's producer Joel Michaels, who licensed the film to Kino Lorber for a Blu-Ray release, and Showgirls, which Carolco sold off to Chargeurs during pre-production, and is distributed in North America by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM also continues to hold the rights to Showgirls (as stated earlier) and the streaming rights to Stargate, the latter of which they also developed into a multimedia franchise since its release. Carolco did not use a logo until 1985; before then, its films merely used an in-credit notice.

1st Logo (May 22, 1985-September 4, 1987)

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Visuals: Against a starry space background, a blue streak of light zooms out, flashes, and forms a bronze, swirly "C". The process repeats twice, working its way outward, before forming the Carolco logo, which consists of a large, stylized "C" formed by many 3D swirls. Afterwards, the logo shines brightly as the words "CAROLCO" (in the Hanzel font and in silver) shine in underneath. The logo then sparkles.

Variant: A still version exists.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A series of synthesized shining sounds, followed by a nine-note brass tune, a couple of synth blares, and a four-note orchestral tune. This theme was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Audio Variant: AMC, Paramount+ and Pluto TV's prints of Rambo: First Blood Part II use the TriStar logo with the Carolco jingle (it was originally silent on the movie), while it is high pitched on AMC.

Audio Trivia: This was also featured of the First Blood and Rambo: First Blood Part II soundtracks as the thirty-first track and the first track, respectively, as "Carolco Logo" (even though the former film predates the logo). Another track has a slate recording that reveals that the fanfare was made in 75 takes. That version is the twenty-sixth track of the second film's soundtrack as "Carolco Logo (With Slate)".

Availability:

• The two films confirmed to have used this logo are Rambo: First Blood Part II and Angel Heart, all on international prints and early home video releases where this is shown cropped to 4:3 from a print matted to widescreen. The original domestic prints of these films began with the TriStar Pictures logo.
• Rambo: First Blood Part II, from the 1988 IVE release onward (with the exceptions of the 1989 budget-priced IVE release, which uses the next logo, and the 1991 Live Home Video, 1992 Promotional Concept Group, Inc. and 1995 Avid Home Entertainment VHS releases, which retain this logo), updates this with the 3rd logo.
• On HBO prints, from when they first started running the film in 1986, the domestic print with the TriStar logo was used instead.
• Some TV prints of Angel Heart have the TriStar logo while most DVD releases open with no logo.
• The Scope version appears on at least a SECAM release of Rambo: First Blood Part II, but it does not appear at all on the British Thorn EMI Video release of said movie.
• The still version can be found on TV spots of Rambo: First Blood Part II.

2nd Logo (April 14, 1986-November 30, 1988)

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Visuals: The logo starts out being in a black background with two silver streaks hitting diagonally from the opposite sides of the screen (lower-left and upper-right corners of the screen). The streaks merge and they have one or two beams of smaller light coming from them. Afterward, the streaks form the same "C" from the previous logo, but now colored in light blue/silver. "CAROLCO" appears below the "C", and flashes/shines in a bright orange light.

Variants:

• On the theatrical trailer for Extreme Prejudice, the logo is silent and tinted blue.
• On a French VHS of Red Heat, translated as Double Détente, the logo is shown in a still before the credits appear.

Technique: Motion-controlled animation.

Audio: A synthesized disco jingle starting with a descending whirring sound, though it usually used the Jerry Goldsmith tune.

Availability:

• It can be found on the 1989 VHS markdown releases of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Angel Heart, plastering the previous logo.
• It is also intact on the U.S. VHS, original LaserDisc, Artisan DVD, and Amazon Instant Video stream releases of Extreme Prejudice (though the original fanfare is replaced with the Goldsmith fanfare on the 1989 VHS markdown release).
• The Apple TV and Fandango at Home print of the aforementioned movie has the Live Entertainment and TriStar Pictures logos. Said logo combo might have appeared on the widescreen LaserDisc release of said film.
• It also makes an appearance in full on the trailer for the latter.
• This also can be seen on Rambo: The Force of Freedom; it's retained on DVD releases of the series from Lionsgate.

3rd Logo (January 15, 1988-August 26, 1994, 2015-2016)

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Visuals: Against a black background, a blue laser carves out a series of curves, making its way inward as it slowly turns up, revealing the "C" used in the previous two logos. Then, the logo shines brightly in a "wind tunnel" effect and zooms-out. As the shining ends, the logo is silver, and the word "CAROLCO" zooms out below. The logo shines once more.

Trivia: On international prints of The Wizard, this logo didn't actually plaster over the Universal Pictures logo. Instead, the logo would play as normal with the music and would then be followed by the film with the Universal logo blacked out.

Variants:

• There is different lighting animation in the wind tunnel seen on some movies after the laser forms the logo. This was used for films in the 2.35:1 ratio such as Rambo III, Narrow Margin, The Doors, Basic Instinct, Universal Soldier, Cliffhanger, and the 1999 Artisan Entertainment VHS release of Rambo: First Blood Part II (the 1988 IVE release, as well as earlier video prints of Rambo III, Music Box, and Narrow Margin, used the standard animation).
  • A shortened version of this was seen on Music Box (only on current prints; the original video releases had the standard logo).
  • It should be noted that other films in the aforementioned ratio, such as DeepStar Six, Air America, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, use the other animation and appears cropped (as it was mainly for films in the 1.85:1 ratio).
• The logo on their website shows "I TOLD YOU I'D BE BACK!" below the signature logo, in a comedic reference to Arnold Schwarzenegger's line from Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
• On the 2004 DVD release of Universal Soldier, a blue line is seen during the animation of the logo, due to a mastering error.

Closing Variant: On the end credits, the print logo is seen with trademark info below. The logo may be seen again with "A Carolco Release" or "A Carolco International, N.V. Release" above or below. Sometimes, legal information is seen below with "® DENOTES A TRADEMARK OF CAROLCO PICTURES, INC., REGISTERED IN THE U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE.".

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The same theme played on the first logo, now opening with a whoosh as the laser appears. Sometimes, it's silent or, on films such as Total Recall, the opening theme. The first track of the digital reissue of the Rambo III soundtrack as "Carolco Logo".

Audio Variant: On some TV airings (including Trifecta's syndicated print) of Lock Up, the 1984 TriStar jingle is heard due to a plastering error.

Availability: Seen on films such as Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Total Recall, Rambo III, and others.

• Carolco went to TriStar Pictures for 80% of their releases. For most VHS releases, TV airings and other home media and streaming prints, Carolco's logo is kept while TriStar's logo is deleted; exceptions include DeepStar Six, Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw, Cliffhanger (owned by Sony Pictures), Homeboy (Fandango at Home and YouTube prints), the British DVD of Music Box, Total Recall (releases since 2001, including AMC's print), Hamlet (1990) (French SECAM VHS, among possible others), Basic Instinct, Red Heat (on the IVE screener and all releases since 1999), the 1998/99 widescreen DVD release of Mountains of the Moon, Air America (from the 2004 DVD release on), The Doors, L.A. Story (particularly the 15th Anniversary DVD of that film), Narrow Margin (the German DVD and syndicated prints from Worldvision/Paramount/Trifecta), the 1998 widescreen LaserDisc release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day (as well as Paramount+/Pluto TV/FX/Fandango at Home prints, an Australian DVD release, the 2005 PSP UMD, and a 2015 Encore broadcast, reportedly), They Live (non-American media, possibly), Chaplin (the original Live Entertainment DVD from 1998 has only the Carolco logo), and Universal Soldier (not on the Live Entertainment DVD release, however).
• Whenever Encore and Telemundo air Rambo III, the current Paramount Pictures logo (the 90th Anniversary version on Telemundo's print, cut off by a few seconds at the beginning) plasters the TriStar logo but leaves Carolco's intact (on AMC airings, both logos are plastered by the Paramount logo), while Encore's airing of DeepStar Six shows the Paramount logo in addition to the TriStar and Carolco logos.
• On Wagons East!, the last movie to use this logo, it appears after the 1993 TriStar logo (all other TriStar releases with this logo had it follow the 1984 TriStar logo), both preceded by the Live Entertainment logo on TV prints (except Lionsgate's 2013 syndicated print) and on the VHS release.
• It also plasters the 1st logo on the 1988 and 1998 VHS releases of Rambo: First Blood Part II.
• U.S. prints of Repossessed have the Seven Arts logo instead, though the print logo still appears at the end and the actual logo appears on the 2003 Artisan Entertainment DVD. Some prints have the Seven Arts logo, but with the Carolco music.
• The British DVD of Iron Eagle II replaces this with the TriStar Pictures logo, while the Artisan DVD retains this logo.
• It also appeared on the beginning of the TV movies Dangerous Passion and Two-Fisted Tales.
• This is seen on trailers for Reservoir Dogs (foreign prints only) and Cutthroat Island, but the former film would ultimately be released by Miramax Films and didn't use any logos at all, while the latter film would use the next logo below.
• This is also seen on international prints of They Live, Shocker, Field of Dreams, Prince of Darkness, Career Opportunities, Opportunity Knocks, and The Wizard, which Universal Studios released domestically, among others.
• The Carolco International N.V. credit appeared on international prints of films and on some old video releases, but domestic prints would have the TriStar logo and in most cases, later video releases have that.
• The Blu-ray release of Johnny Handsome only has a 2004 StudioCanal logo (neither a TriStar nor Carolco logo appear), but the in-credit international logo with legal information is kept.
• This is seen on VHS releases of Lock-Up; DVD releases and some TV airings have TriStar and the logo for White Eagle Enterprises instead as they use the domestic print (and as mentioned, some TV prints have this logo with TriStar's music thanks to bad editing).
• It was later seen on their website (before being replaced with the 5th logo), and in the annotation on the right.
• It also appears on the 3D re-release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, as well as on current prints of Vista Organization films such as Maid to Order, Nightflyers, and Trading Hearts, among others. It is unknown if it appears on the Fox Lorber VHS release of Pathfinder.
• It might have appeared on non-Australian theatrical prints of the Village Roadshow Pictures film Bloodmoon.

Legacy: Generally agreed upon to be one of the greatest logos of the 1980s.

4th Logo (December 22, 1995, 2015)

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Visuals: Essentially just a superimposed in-credit logo of Carolco, the "C" in gold with "CAROLCO" below, in a very small size.

Variant: Later on, when Carolco was revived, the logo appears larger and has a silver look, with a copyright notice below.

Technique: A printed image made using traditional ink and paint.

Audio: The film's or show's opening/closing theme.

Availability: Seen on Cutthroat Island, the last production by the original company. The later variant was only known to be seen on a trailer for a music concert film.

5th Logo (2016-2017)

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Visuals: It's essentially the same as the 1988 logo, but this time done with modern CGI effects. The "CAROLCO" name is also in a thicker font.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The music from the 1988 logo.

Availability: It was used as the intro on Carolco's website until the new Carolco was renamed Recall Studios.

External links

• Carolco Pictures on Wikipedia
• Carolco Pictures Filmography on IMDB