De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

Logo captures by EnormousRat and others

Background: Dino De Laurentiis formed the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) in 1984 after founding a studio complex in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. De Laurentiis subsequently purchased Embassy Films Associates from Coca-Cola. In 1988, DEG went bankrupt and its assets were split: its library was sold to British financiers Michael and Anthony Stevens, the Wilmington studios were sold to Carolco Pictures (with which the DEG library would merge following its own bankruptcy several years later), and De Laurentiis Entertainment Limited, an Australian subsidiary that was intended to produce films on the Gold Coast, was sold to Village Roadshow (DEG itself was not sold to Village Roadshow). Dino De Laurentiis then formed a new production company, "Dino De Laurentiis Communications". The rights to most of the DEG catalog are now with StudioCanal, with Lionsgate and (for some films) MGM holding the video rights.

1st Logo (June 6-September 19, 1986)

Nicknames: "The Lion Statue", "The 2-D Lion"

Logo: On a gray background, a lion as seen in the second logo flies from the bottom to the top of the screen. Then the letters "DEG", with four lines in black and white respectively above and below it, slowly rise onto the screen with "DE LAURENTIIS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP" underneath the letters. They're backwards for the first few seconds, but it rotates and flips to the other side. Copyright information fades in below the logo.

Variants:

• Depending on the film quality, the background color will range from gray to olive-orange.
• The text may either rotate from the left or the right.
• An earlier version seems to exist where the text has a rougher rotation, only notable for a few frames. Later runs of the logo have those frames cut out.

FX/SFX: 2-D animation for the lion, but the text appears to be a chroma-keyed model.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic thirteen-note synth fanfare. On some films, it is silent or (on a rare occasion) it has the film's opening score play over the logo.

Music/Sounds Variant: On North American prints of Transformers: The Movie, the gong sounds from The Rank Organisation logo are heard (due to a plastering error; as international rights went with the former company while North American rights went with the latter). On some releases of the film, such as the 1987 FHE VHS and the Australian Blu-Ray, it is silent.

Availability: Rare, due to it being used for a very short time (only 3 months). It appears on films such as Manhunter, Raw Deal, North American prints of Transformers: The Movie, My Little Pony: The Movie, Maximum Overdrive, Radioactive Dreams (International prints used the Manson International logo instead), and Blue Velvet, among others. Usually preceded by an MGM or StudioCanal logo. It also appears on the trailer for Trick or Treat, but the actual film had the next logo.

2nd Logo (October 24, 1986-April 27, 1989)

Nickname: "The Lion Statue II"

Logo: On a black background, we see three still images of a lion statue close-up. We then zoom out to see that is the gold abstract lion, from the first logo, in 3D, as the background turns red. Underneath the lion, we see the gold letters "DEG" (with two black lines above and below it) and we have the name "DE LAURENTIIS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP" in white appearing underneath. The "G" in "DEG" then shines.

Variant: There is a short version of this logo on later releases.

FX/SFX: The close-up of the lion, the zoom-out to show the abstract lion, and the letter "G" in "DEG" shines.

Music/Sounds: A beautiful and dramatic fanfare, composed by Maurice Jarre. Again, sometimes it is silent or has the film's opening theme heard over it. The short version is silent, but some films have the last half of the theme or the film's opening score.

Availability: Rare. This logo can be found on Tai-Pan, Trick or Treat, Crimes of the Heart, and King Kong Lives, among others. The short version was seen on later releases circa 1987-89 such as Near Dark, Hiding Out, Date With an Angel, Dracula's Widow, The Bedroom Window, Traxx, Million Dollar Mystery, Collision Course, and international prints of Rampage (American prints used the Miramax logo instead), Pumpkinhead (AKA: Vengeance: The Demon) and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Like the last logo, expect an MGM or StudioCanal logo to precede this (though in the case of current prints of The Bedroom Window, it's plastered by the latter).