Cinergi Pictures Entertainment

Background

Cinergi was a production company formed by Andrew G. Vajna in 1989, after he left Carolco Pictures. It produced only four notable films and many duds, eventually closing in 1998. Most of Cinergi's library assets were acquired by Buena Vista/The Walt Disney Company, which distributed almost all of Cinergi's productions (most under the Hollywood Pictures label, though two of their films were under the Touchstone Pictures label) except for Die Hard: With a Vengeance, which 20th Century Fox owned the rights to until 2019 when it was acquired by Disney after its merger with Fox (though they had already acquired international distribution rights for that film). The other assets were to be merged into CPEI Acquisition, Inc., a joint venture between Vajna and the Valdina Corporation, while Vajna himself went on to form C2 Pictures. Cinergi's first release was Medicine Man on February 7, 1992, which had the print logo on the poster and trailers, though no logo was used in the film itself. However, the animated onscreen logo made its first appearance on Tombstone. In 2003, Cinergi would make a revival when Vajna bought video game company Games Unlimited and renamed it Cinergi Interactive. The company would operate until 2007.

(December 25, 1993-February 20, 1998)

Logo: On a blue/black background, a transparent "C"-like figure appears and rotates as it zooms-out. The beginning has the company name reflected on the "C". When it's finished, the word "CINERGI" emerges from the background with sparkles and appears in blue below the logo. The logo continues to zoom out from us, then stands still.

Trivia: The logo was created by Rod Dyer Design.

Variants:

Nixon has a shortened version, starting at the zoom-out.
On the Scud video games, a still gold version of the logo is used on a black background.
On Evita, the logo is in black & white.
There is a closing credits logo with the 3-D "C" with "DISTRIBUTED BY" above and below "CINERGI PRODUCTIONS N.V. INC.".

FX/SFX: The "C" rotating and the appearance of "CINERGI".

Music/Sounds: A 12-note horn stinger followed by an uplifting orchestral finish, composed by Jerry Goldsmith. On films such as Evita, Renaissance Man, Nixon, and Deep Rising, it would be silent or have the films' respective opening themes.

Music/Sounds Variant: The fanfare was reportedly conducted by Bruce Broughton, as stated on the expanded score release. This might be because Jerry Goldsmith composed a score for Tombstone (the first movie to use this logo), but got rejected in favor of Broughton's score.

Availability: Seen on several of Cinergi's films including Tombstone (debut), Evita, Renaissance Man, Shadow Conspiracy, Color of Night, The Scarlet Letter, Judge Dredd, Die Hard With a Vengeance, and An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (the last release from the company). Also seen on the Scud games. It also appears on the international versions of Deep Rising and Up Close & Personal (domestic releases of said films have the Hollywood Pictures and Touchstone Pictures logos respectively). The closing credits logo is only seen on international prints of films.

Editor's Note: A great logo all around, with another classic theme courtesy of Jerry Goldsmith, and CGI that is incredibly advanced for the early 1990s.