Lionsgate Films

Background

Named after a Vancouver landmark, the Lions' Gate Bridge (officially known as the "First Narrows Bridge"), Lions Gate Films (as of 2005, written as "Lionsgate") is a North American film production/distribution studio that was founded in 1997 and officially formed on January 12, 1998 by Frank Giustra. It was formerly known as "Cinépix Film Properties (CFP)". It is currently a film division of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation.

1st Logo (June 6, 1997-July 21, 2000)

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Nickname: "The Golden Gears", "The Lions Gate Sky", "Lionsgate Hero", "The Lions' Gates", "The Gears", "Lionsgate Horror (Horror variant)"

Logo: We fade in close to several gears and zoom out to a view of them rotating in a large Art Deco-inspired chamber. The camera then zooms all the way back and out through a keyhole, revealing an enormous pair of doors, with the company's "lion rampant" logo on both of them (intended to evoke its heraldry-inspired appearance) and a geometric pattern as well. The doors open and we see the name "LIONSGATE", now written as one word and with a metallic texture, over a heavenly sky background with clouds surrounding it.

Variants:

There is a version which appears on horror and action films (basically, wherever a "rugged" appearance is desired), where the gears and doors are rusted, and the "LIONSGATE" text appears over a hellish red sky, showing more wear than it does in the standard version. This version is known as "Lionsgate Horror".
On current prints of Star Kid, the logo plasters the Trimark Pictures logo and is sped up to accommodate the length of the original logo. The film's opening music is left intact.
The print version with black text on a white background is used on The Expendables 2 and Reservoir Dogs video games.
A shorter version starting from the zoom out through the keyhole exists.
An extremely rare variant is known to exist where the animation plays as normal, but towards the end of the orchestration the logo begins to shrink. We zoom out to find it is the "H" in the THX logo, which moves into the bottom left corner a few seconds later, which leads directly into the menu.

FX/SFX: The animation of the gears and doors. Very nice CGI, done by DevaStudios, Inc.

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare (which takes cues from Danny Elfman's Batman theme) for the standard version. The horror version has the sounds of the gears cranking and door creaking, alongside sounds resembling a heartbeat and moaning. The short version uses mechanical noises. On rare occasions, both versions are silent or have the film's opening theme playing over them.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Syfy airings of Leprechaun 2, the Trimark Pictures theme was heard over the first half of the logo, and the Lionsgate theme played over the second half of the logo, possibly due to an editing error or cheap plastering.
The THX variant directly fades the end of the Lionsgate theme into the second half of the THX "Deep Note" (more specifically the 2005 "Science of Sensation" version), which includes the whoosh from that logo before fading out early.

Availability: Common.

The standard version was first unveiled on the company's website in late October 2005, and later debuted on Madea's Family Reunion on February 24 the next year; it can be seen on titles such as Akeelah and the Bee, the Tyler Perry film series, Employee of the Month, and releases from Pantelion Pictures, among others. The horror version can be seen on the Saw films starting with Saw III (as well as recent prints of II), The Descent, and action films such as The Expendables, among others. The short version was seen at the beginning of one of the Marvel DTV features, The Invincible Iron Man. The "Heaven" variant was last used on The Big Wedding, and the "Horror" variant was last seen on Texas Chainsaw 3D. It also plasters other companies logos on its titles released by Lionsgate, such as films formerly distributed by Trimark Pictures. At some cases of plastering older logos on horror movies (like The Blair Witch Project and Leprechaun sequels), the normal version appears instead of the preferred horror one.
It is also used as a de-facto home video logo on DVD and Blu-Ray releases.
The variant fading into the THX logo is extremely rare, and is only known to exist on the 2006 THX Optimum Resolution DVD of Total Recall (1990), however more such releases may exist.

Editor's Note: With this logo, Lionsgate truly stepped up their game, producing an excellently-animated logo that still stands the test of time years later.

6th Logo (April 14, 2013- )

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Logo: We see the horizon of the earth surrounded by clouds as it zooms away from us. Stars fly past us as they form a lion constellation based on the first two logos. As soon as the constellation forms, it is seen reflected on the "S" of "LIONSGATE" in 3-D lettering as the word flies past through the clouds from the fifth logo. A light shines through the "S" and the "G" as the name is revealed in a deep blue. The clouds swoop away, leaving the light.

FX/SFX: More stunning CGI, also designed by DevaStudios.

Music/Sounds: A triumphant fanfare composed by Jason Johnson. Like the last logo, sometimes it is silent or has the film's opening theme heard over it.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Contract to Kill (2016), a low pitched version of the theme is heard.
On current prints of the 1989 TV movie Get Smart, Again!, it has the finishing of the ending theme, then the theme from the 1985 King Features Entertainment logo is heard, most likely due to sloppy plastering.

Availability: Current.

First seen on the teaser for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The full logo debuted on the wide release of Mud (the TIFF release had the previous logo), and can be seen on newer Lionsgate films released after that. This logo is absent from Nickelodeon airings of Shaun the Sheep Movie, but still mentions Lionsgate in the opening credits. This also appears at the beginning on some PolyGram films, such as King of the Mountain.
As with the previous logo, this is also used as a de-facto home video logo.

Editor's Note: Another wonderfully-animated logo, even if it rather pales in comparison to the last logo.