Draft:Carmike Cinemas

Credits

Background

Carmike Cinemas was founded in 1982 by Carl L. Patrick, Sr. and headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. The company was named after Patrick's two sons, Carl Jr. and Mike. As of March 2016, "America's Hometown Theatre" chain had 276 theaters with 2,954 screens in 41 states, largely positioned in rural or suburban areas, and was the fourth largest movie theater chain in the United States. On March 4, 2016, AMC Theatres announced its intent to acquire Carmike Cinemas. The deal was closed on December 21, 2016 and Carmike locations were converted to the AMC brand in 2017, with the Carmike logo and slogan being repurposed for the new AMC Classic banner.

1st Logo (1992-1996)

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  A photo of the partial recording of the "Coming Soon" bumper
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Visuals: The camera goes through a gold CGI tube that ends in a CGI environment with blue walls with red, light blue, and green lines on them, a midnight blue ceiling, and a red floor. The camera zooms through it to reveal a generic Carmike theatre with searchlights against a night skyline background on a grid floor. The camera moves, focuses on the roof and zooms out. The background turns dark green and the theatre a lime colored circle, as the camera zooms out to reveal that the dark green part of the screen is actually a map of the United States on a black screen, and that there are many other dots revealing Carmike locations across the United States (as of 1992). The whole thing fades to a dark blue/red gradient background as the silver Carmike "C" with "Carmike Cinemas" in a script font zooms out.

Variant: There is a bumper that says "Coming Soon To The Carmike Cinemas." It was shown on the Carmike Cinemas Orientation Video, but it was cut off early. It was shown in full in theaters.

Technique: CGI by SmithGroup Communications.

Audio: Unknown, but new music is dubbed in on the Carmike Cinemas Orientation Video print of the logo.

Availability: Platypus Comix has the aforementioned video available on page 2 of the Policy Trailer Jamboree. It can also be VHS on the Carmike Cinemas Orientation Video VHS along with a partial recording of the Coming Soon bumper.

2nd Logo (1996-1999)

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Visuals: A star explodes, creating a red ring of light around it. The star and light dissolve to reveal a film reel which flies toward the front of the screen, spinning as it does so. The film reel then turns into the Carmike "C" logo and flies downward as the "Carmike Cinemas" script text flies into place above it. The "C" begins spinning until it and the text fade out as a star trail appears. The star trail then shoots itself onto a CGI map of the continental United States (right around the Georgia/Florida border) and dissolves into a series of dots marking the chain's then-current locations. The phrase "Entertaining America" appears and flies toward the center of the screen as this happens. The text flies away, the dots turn back into starlights and explode to from the text "Great Movies", "Big Screens", and "Dynamic Sound" as fireworks explode behind them. The text solidifies as lights shine across the words, and then a comet appears. The comet enters a wall-less cinema lobby and moves to a center pedestal where it forms a popcorn bucket and several boxes of candy. On a second pedestal, the same comet forms more candy and a soda cup. A third pedestal appears, and the comet forms a smaller bag of popcorn and another cup of soda. The comet then flies toward the edge of the lobby, stopping at each of three signs indicating "No Smoking", "No Talking" and "Please Pitch In"; each sign briefly lighting up as the comet hits it. The lobby then fades out, and the comet flies toward a re-emerging Carmike script and logo. Underneath, the text "Thank you for your patronage" appears. The comet flies toward the logo just as it stops spinning, then disappears. The entire logo then explodes out of view, as a new comet writes out the text "Enjoy The Show" in blue-violet before the trailer fades out.

Technique: CGI produced by Cinema Concepts and animated by Flying Foto Factory.

Audio: A synth sci-fi sounder, followed by a majestic cinema fanfare.

3rd Logo (1999-2002)

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Visuals: On a magenta-like background, there is a purple filmstrip holder with a flame coming out of one hole and a copper Carmike "C" in the center with a light coming out of the center of the "C". A blue ball rolls in, and the "C" turns clockwise about 30 degrees. Flames are coming out of the other holes, and one of them eclipses the screen from view, just in time to transition to a futuristic background with metallic orbs and an open tube, which the ball goes down on. As the ball goes down, the orbs are revealed to contain a gold Carmike "C" in them. Before going through one of the filmstrip holders' holes, it knocks the smaller one of three stars from its place and into an electric blue environment, which is revealed to be a red tube in an environment with a red/yellow sunburst background and a metallic green floor and popcorn stands. The star balances itself on a Coca-Cola circle before being thrown off by a bag of popcorn in a field full of popcorn bags and cups. It lands in an amphitheater with a platinum circle full of silver Carmike "C"s in the center and red seats. Other stars are revealed to be in many of the other red seats. The blue ball from before bounces off three levels in the aisle and lands in the silver map of America with many locations pinpointed. The map explodes on contact, and stars are flying from the map as the camera zooms in on the map, which changes to gold and then to purple as the gold light collapses to form a gold Carmike "C". When the "C" settles into a position, "Carmike Cinemas" in a script font sparkles in as a green light flashes.

Technique: CGI by Willming Reams Animation.

Audio: An industrial/orchestral combo, featuring a choir singing "Carmike Across America" somewhere in the middle.

4th Logo (2002-2005)

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Visuals: On a moving monochrome dark cloud background with "Carmike Cinemas" in script, there is a filmstrip (with the DTS, SDDS, and Dolby Digital sound formats, if one looks closely at it) counting down before revealing a futuristic factory background where a crane is picking up a gold Carmike "C" from a pool of molten steel. The countdown continues before it cuts to an automatic refreshment stand pouring in such beverages as Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Pibb Xtra, and Sprite. Against a refreshment-style background, there is a Coca Cola-branded Carmike Cinemas popcorn bags and Coca Cola cups in a pool of popcorn. The countdown continues as a cell phone appears, and in a ball of colored dots to the left, "PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELLULAR PHONES." appears. The countdown continues as a map of America with a sky background and a green outline appears. "Carmike Cinemas" in script zooms out with stars pinpointing the many Carmike theatres in America at the time. The countdown finishes with a bang as the crane with the gold Carmike "C" puts it in the usual position on a gray background and "Carmike Cinemas" in silver on a script zooms out. Searchlights are in the background.

Technique: CGI, also done by Willming Reams Animation.

Audio: A remix of the "Carmike Across America" jingle, complete with the choir singing "Carmike Across America". Starting in 2003, the music was slightly remixed further, including a brief guitar solo at the end.

Legacy: This was a notorious lost logo, with only a low-quality still image existing online at one point, until it was rediscovered on June 15, 2023. The audio of the logo previously resurfaced earlier that year on April 10.

5th Logo (2005-2012)

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Visuals: The sequence opens with an outline of the Carmike Cinemas script spinning into place against a background of reddish lights. Once it's in place, the outline is filled in gold and a trail of Carmike scripts appears behind it. The script trail is encased within a kaleidoscopic light beam as it pans upward. A montage of then-recent films (King Kong (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)) slides in from the right, followed by a shot of a concession stand serving popcorn and Coca-Cola. The screen then cuts to inside the auditorium, where various patrons are seen enjoying their movies, snacks, and Cokes. Below them the text "Enjoy the show with a large popcorn and ice cold Coca-Cola" wipes in. The screen cuts back to some more film clips (Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) and Harry Potter) before the light beam reappears, this time carrying the Carmike "C" logo. The camera zooms in toward the "C" until the beam disappears, then the Carmike script writes itself in underneath and the logo shines. A smaller text reading "Thank you for selecting Carmike Cinemas" then fades in, followed by the texts "Please turn off your cell phone" and "Enjoy the show". The logo then fades out.

Technique: Live-action and CGI graphics, produced by Triple Horse Productions and Cinema Concepts.

Audio: First, there is an airy synth note which constantly changes pitch, followed by a repetition of the same notes, forming a tremolo-like sweep of synth notes. This all continues throughout the rest of the trailer, combined with sounds corresponding to the actions. The sweep of notes then culminate into an intensifying bass note which rises and then becomes a loud whoosh. The entire music caps off the trailer with a horn fanfare (which is actually the "Carmike Across America" jingle being played extremely slowly). Composed in the key of E minor.

6th Logo (2009-2012)

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Visuals: On a red space background with a nebula in the back is the Carmike Cinemas script logo shining in gold. The text "WELCOMES YOU TO GALAXY OF ENTERTAINING MOMENTS". The saturation of the logo then brightens and flashes, making the logo disappear and leave only the space background. Then, a wall of movie clips come together (such as Toy Story, The Shining, Jaws, The Godfather, The Matrix, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, among many others). The logo zooms up to a clip from Lethal Weapon, to which the clips flash out to text saying "THE BRIGHTEST STARS" in Impact and shining in silver with it rotated 60 degrees. The logo zooms in to the text and it flashes, revealing the oppositely-rotated text "ON THE BIGGEST SCREENS". The logo zooms in and the text changes to "A REFRESHING ESCAPE". After the screen zooms in to this set of text, the screen cuts to a montage of people grabbing concessions, entering the theater, and grabbing seats. Another montage appears of people enjoying the show through expressions on their faces. A star shines diagonally across the screen, turning the background into the same space background with the Carmike Cinemas text on it. The words "ESCAPE", "REFRESH", and "ENJOY" blur in one by one at the bottom of the text, in which the latter words slide into the word "ENJOY", turning it into the phrase "ENJOY OUR DIGITAL CINEMA PRESENTATION". The space background slowly fades out, along with the trailer seconds later. It then emerges from the darkness to a shot of Coca-Cola being placed into a cup holder, with text saying "Movies are better with popcorn and a Coca-Cola" along with a Coca-Cola copyright notice below. After this, the trailer fades out.

Technique: Live-action and CGI graphics produced by Cinema Concepts.

Audio: First, an ambient three-note synth theme with scurrying sounds when the text blurs in. After that, there is a whoosh followed by a buzz which segues into a stuttering electric spark noise. After another whoosh is heard, a pounding rock theme with intermittent whooshes play all throughout the trailer until the "Carmike Cinemas" text is on screen, where a low-pitch, repeated wind sound is heard for the lens flare. Three reversed whooshes are heard, followed by a "fssh" noise when the text transitions. Throughout this segment, the music becomes quieter and more ambient until it fades out.

Availability: Shown on digital Carmike screens during this timeframe; 35mm screens continued to show the previous opening.

7th Logo (Coca-Cola 3D) (May 2012-2017)

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Visuals: On a white background, a red Carmike "C" logo forms, then fades out. "Please turn off your cell phones and other electronic devices." appears. Several pieces of popcorn cover the screen. The popcorn falls down, and after "This theater is equipped with DLP Digital Projection", ice cubes cover the screen. The screen is then drenched in Coca-Cola. A Coca-Cola branded straw drinks it all away, revealing "And dynamic digital surround sound.", "Hope you have your Coke and popcorn.", and "Enjoy the show and thank you for choosing Carmike Cinemas." The Carmike logo and "Carmike Cinemas. Your State-Of-The-Art Hometown Theatre." appear, with Coca-Cola and DLP Cinema logos and www.carmikerewards.com below it.

Trivia: After Carmike Cinemas was folded into AMC in 2017, Coca-Cola offered this template to at least four other theater chains carrying their products: Cinemark (until summer 2022), Showcase Cinemas, ShowBiz Cinemas, and Bow-Tie Cinemas.

Technique: CGI by Mirada.

Audio: On the video, a cut-off snippet of a man saying "put on your Real-D glasses" is heard. After this, there is the sounds of popcorn popping as they fall on the screen, and then the sound of it falling. Next, there is the sound of ice clinking with each other, followed by the sound of the Coca-Cola splashing and fizzing. This is then followed by the sound of a straw slurping, and then an "ahh" noise.

Audio Variant: On most surviving prints of the logo, the "ahh" is omitted.

8th Logo (The Movie Move) (January-November 2015)

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Visuals: Various couples enjoy their night out at a Carmike cinema. Most of the focus is on one boy attempting to sneak his hand across his date's back. Eventually the girl takes notice and wraps the hand herself.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: Various, alternating themes depending on the tone of the film presumed to be playing.

9th Logo (Front Row) (2016-2017)

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Visuals: There is a shot of a concessions stand at a Carmike location. Three men later walk into the stand while one man tells the duo to get their popcorn and save their seats. After that, the duo ask for their snacks while another man sits inside of the theater as the duo continue to order their snacks. Then, the man stops by him and notices that he was sitting on the seat. Then, the man's phone starts rumbling as he looks at his phone to reveal a video post with the other two men. After that, the man later gets interrupted by texts stating that the theater is almost full. After that, a woman later stops by him and tells that is this seat taken. After that, the other two men later look at the man in the red shirt taking photos with the two women. After that a red background appears with the text "Here's to Coke, popcorn and new friends" followed by the words "Enjoy the show" and the Coca-Cola and Carmike Cinemas logos in white.

Technique: Live-action footage produced by WITH/agency.

Audio: Comedic-and-suspensful-style music composed and post-produced by Jason Shannon and Ben Holst at Tunewelders.

10th Logo (Feature Presentation) (2016-2017)

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Visuals: On a blue background, "Carmike" writes itself onscreen, and "CINEMAS" fades in underneath. The logo fades away, and "FEATURE PRESENTATION" fades in and slowly zooms in.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: A light musical tune with strings and a piano. Composed by Jason Shannon at Tunewelders.

Availability: This trailer was only seen on modern Carmike Cinemas before the chain's closure later in 2017.