Hearst Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

On April 14, 1990, as part of a corporate restructuring, the Hearst Corporation decided to rename King Features Entertainment as Hearst Entertainment, or Hearst Entertainment Distribution, while King Phoenix Entertainment, which Hearst had acquired in 1989, was renamed to Hearst Entertainment Productions. The company stopped making telemovies around the early 2000s. The company broke up in 2015 when Hearst decided to sell its live-action library to Lionsgate, while King Features Syndicate acquired the animation library.

1st Logo (1990-2005)


Visuals: On a grainy white background, two blue wings (one from the left side with five feathers, and one on the right with three feathers) comes sliding toward each other. As it gets closer, the wings make up a head of an eagle. after the wings stop sliding, the ends of the feathers come sliding in. Halfway, the ends reverse itself with the tips reversed sliding and then stops in place. The words "Hearst Entertainment" in a blue italic serif font zoom in from the bottom.

Variants:

  • A version with a light blue background and a dark blue eagle exists.
  • A version with a yellow background exists.
  • A version with an orange background exists.
  • A B&W version also exists.
  • Videotaped and filmed variants of this logo exist. On the videotaped variant, the text is in a different font and it also zooms in slower.
  • The logo may be sped up warp speed for time.
  • The videotaped variant may have the word "Television" zooming in along with the company name.
  • A still variant with "A Presentation of" above the logo also exists, which can be seen on A&E Biography.
  • On the TV specials The World's Greatest Magic IV and V, "in association with" from the The Gary L. Pudney Company logo is seen below the logo. It fades away once the text starts zooming in.
  • Sometimes, only the zooming text part of the animation is shown.
  • The word "Entertainment" is sometimes replaced with "Broadcasting". The eagle logo is also smaller, but the name is bigger than usual. The animation is also different; the finished eagle logo appears and zooms in to its spot, while the text "PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH" fades in above the logo and the name "Hearst Broadcasting" comes from below and slides up to its place below the eagle. The background is more of a lit, slanted double gradient background.
  • A version also exists, where the background is blue and the eagle and text are in yellow. This was seen on The Rendering and Deadly Betrayal.
  • On Amazon Prime Video prints of The Interrogation of Michael Crowe, the filmed version of the logo is cropped to 16:9 widescreen to fit the width of the aspect ratio.
  • On the Phantom 2040 videogame, the logo is purple on a black background. The colors are opposite on the Game Gear version.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: None or the closing theme of the film/show.

Audio Variants:

  • On some King Features distributed films such as An American Werewolf in London, thanks to sloppy editing, the 1981 King Features Entertainment "Crown Trail" music plays over this logo, and the animation also plays much slower and choppier in a poor attempt to make the music blend in better.
  • NBC and CBS airings used a generic theme starting in 1994 and ABC airings used a generic theme starting in 1998.

Availability:

  • Seen on a few TV movies/specials from time to time.
  • It also might be seen on some Popeye specials.
  • It is also seen at the end of Popular Mechanics for Kids, currently available on DVD, Amazon Prime and Tubi.
  • It can also be seen on all the Lifetime networks, as well as Eerie, Indiana on the now-defunct FEARnet network and The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo, which hasn't been reran for years, although it is on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment.
  • It is also preserved on Beetle Bailey shorts on DVD releases of Animated All-Stars and DVD releases of Snuffy Smith.
    • The logo is also preserved on Phantom 2040 and the 1996 Flash Gordon animated series, both of which have been uploaded for free on YouTube by the Comics Kingdom channel.
  • This was also believed to be preserved on the 1998 Live Entertainment DVD release of An American Werewolf in London (1981).
  • The "Hearst Broadcasting" variant was only sighted in the short-lived talk show The Les Brown Show.
  • Nowadays, Hearst's library is mostly owned by Lionsgate, and any of their logos (following or plastering it) may appear instead (in the case of FXM's and Amazon Prime's print of Wildflower).

2nd Logo (2005-2015)


Visuals: On a white background, the letters "H E A R S T" unfold as it zooms out in place. While that's happening, "entertainment" writes itself in.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: None.

Availability:

  • The only known sighting of this logo is at the end of streaming prints (as well as some TV airings, like on Epix's print) of An American Werewolf in London (1981), such as on VUDU, Amazon Prime, and Tubi, among others.
  • It might also be seen internationally on any original programming.
King Features Entertainment
King Phoenix Entertainment
Hearst Entertainment
Lionsgate Films
King Features Syndicate
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