Miramax Family Films

Credits

Descriptions by
Supermarty-o and others

Captures by
Broken Saw, Juniorfan88, LovePot World Sales, V of Doom, and Mr. Logo

Video captures courtesy of
Broken Saw and The AVTB Archives

Background

Miramax Family Films (also known as "Miramax Family") was the family production/distribution arm of Miramax Films established in 1991 to produce content for a family audience, and became defunct in late 2006. On March 18, 2019, Miramax revived its family and animation divisions, with both being founded as separate divisions within the company.

1st Logo (1993-2000)

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Visuals: Essentially just a still version of the Miramax Films logo on a black background, with "FAMILY" next to "FILMS".

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: The opening theme of the trailer.

Availability: Can be seen on trailers for films such as Into the West, The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia, and Gordy.

2nd Logo (August 25, 1995-February 2, 1996)

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Visuals: An "M" in the same font as the regular Miramax logo zooms out to the left of the screen and scrolls to the right, revealing "MIRAMA", and when it gets to the end, it disappears in a flash of light, revealing an "X". The words "FAMILY FILMS", with the usual lines that would surround "FILMS" in the regular Miramax logo, fades in below. A large "M" in black with a glowing blue corona surrounding it zooms out and borders the logo. The logo itself is in perfect tempo, the outlined "M" isn't flashing everywhere, and "MIRAMAX" is in a more yellowish tint.

Variants:

• When in 4:3 full screen, the "glow" forms on the top and bottom of the screen.
• In 2.35:1 widescreen, the logo is heavily cropped.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: Due to it only appearing on three films, the music is different each time.

• On The Thief and the Cobbler, the Jack Maeby theme from the movie logo, albeit double-pitched, is used.
• On The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia, it's silent.
• On the UK VHS of Gordy, the movie logo's theme plays, but pitched up by four percent.

Availability:

• It's only known to be on about three films, those being the American releases of The Thief and the Cobbler (which Miramax distributed as Arabian Knight), The NeverEnding Story III: Escape from Fantasia, and the UK VHS of Gordy, where the standard Miramax logo originally appeared in front of the film.
• The VHS releases of the first two films keep this logo, as do the Miramax Home Entertainment, Alliance Atlantis, and The Weinstein Company DVD releases of the former; it is plastered by the 2011 Miramax logo on the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD.
• On the Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD releases of Gordy, the original Miramax logo is plastered by the 1999 logo. Additionally, the Alliance Video VHS of Gordy uses the standard Miramax logo instead.

3rd Logo (October 26, 2001-October 11, 2005)

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Visuals: Over a white background, the Miramax Films print logo, in black, fades in. Suddenly, a small cyan dot jumps up, turns itself into a bell for some reason, and rings itself. Then the bell turns back into the dot, speeds towards the logo and pushes the "I", squishing the two lines together. All of a sudden, the above line springs up high and hits "MIRAMAX", breaking the letters apart and sending them (and the dot) high off screen. The above bar rests in its usual position, with "FILMS" completely gone. "MIRAMAX" drops back in a completely different, blocky font colored in the same color as the ball, hitting the lines and changing the color to gold. The multicolored text "F A M I L Y" fades in one letter at a time. The dot returns and lands on the "i", making it lowercase. The logo shines.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Various stock sound effects: a whoosh, bell ringing and car zooming for the dot, a "BOING!" and the sound of a car crash when the "MIRAMAX" text flies, a louder "BOING!" when the different "MIRAMAX" text drops, a harp when "FAMILY" fades in, a "PLUMP!" when the dot dots the "I", and party noise makers when the logo shines (Sound Ideas, CARTOON, HORN - BUSY HORN PARTY).

Availability:

• It can be found on releases from this period, such as In Search of Santa, Hugo the Movie Star, and MyScene Goes Hollywood.
• It also appears as a de-facto home video logo on films released on DVD through this subsidiary, such as The Thief and the Cobbler/Arabian Knight.