Epic Productions

Background

Epic Productions (also known as "Epic Pictures Enterprises, Inc." and "Epic Entertainment, Inc.") was an independent production company that was created and invested by French-state bank Crédit Lyonnais in 1988 and controlled by Moshe Diamant and Eduard Sarlui (the same people who started Trans World Entertainment in 1983 and became stockholders in Vision P.D.G. International in 1987). In 1989, its films were distributed by Triumph Releasing Corporation, a unit of Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (now "Sony Pictures Entertainment"). In 1993/1994, Epic began purchasing a library of films acquired from defunct film companies to which Crédit Lyonnais lent money, dividing them into holding companies named after letters of the Greek alphabet (e.g. Alpha Library Company, Epsilon Library Company, and Omega Library Company). After Epic's closure, the rights to these films were held by Crédit Lyonnais until they were sold to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment in 1997. MGM acquired the rights to these films from PolyGram in 1999 and incorporated them into the Orion Pictures library, where the rights currently stand.

1st Logo (January 12-August 24, 1990)

Logo: On a starry background, we see a thick purple streak with three thinner purple lines curve from the left side of the screen to the right side of the screen. The streak then wipes in across the middle and this logo with shiny text zooms out: "EPIC PRODUCTIONS". On the sides of the logo are parts of the purple streak.

Variant: Sometimes, a still variant was seen usually on trailers.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Appears on Ski Patrol, Bad Influence, and Men At Work (which was plastered with the 2nd logo on VHS and TV, but the 1st logo was retained on DVD), among others.

2nd Logo (1990-1993?)

Logo: We pan to the top of a gold rock pedestal, and see that on top of it is a man with shoulder-length hair wearing a black fighting suit with a black cape. The man is holding a sword in his right hand and a black shield in his left hand, and he raises his sword as the camera zooms out to reveal that the pedestal he is standing on is the letter "I" in the large gold rock word "EPIC". Lightning strikes the sword as the small text "PRODUCTIONS" fades in below.

Technique: Chroma-keyed live action and CGI.

Music/Sounds: A epic-sounding synth theme with occasional drumbeats, some sword-drawing noises, and also thunder at the end.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was seen on VHS copies and Comedy Central airings of Men At Work (the Comedy Central airings have the 1995 Paramount logo precede this logo, as Viacom (parent company of Paramount) once held TV rights to the Epic Productions catalog). The 1993 VHS of Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice (aka Catacombs) has a short version preceding trailers for The Ambulance and The Crawlers, though it's unclear if the VHS releases of those films actually use this logo. This doesn't appear on Carlito's Way, which has merely an in-credit reference.