Paramount Home Entertainment/Production Logos

Paramount Home Video

Contents

1st Logo (September 17, 1979-October 2, 1980)	2nd Logo (October 3, 1980-January 26, 1981)	3rd Logo (April 6, 1982-March 12, 1987)	4th Logo (April 20, 1987-April 24, 2007, mid-2010s in Asian VCDs, March 2014 in Indonesia)	5th Logo (November 15, 1993)

Paramount Home Entertainment

Contents

1st Logo (November 12, 1996)	2nd Logo (Early 1998-1999)	3rd Logo (May 7, 2002-December 27, 2008)

Paramount Home Video

1st Logo (September 17, 1979-October 2, 1980)

Visuals: Over a navy blue background is "Paramount" in the famous script, and "HOME VIDEO" below in the Eurostile Bold Extended font in between two lines, one above and one below. To the right of that is the 1968 Paramount print logo to the right, complete with the Gulf+Western byline.

Variant: A grayscaled variant exists on releases of some black-and-white films, such as Sunset Boulevard and Paper Moon.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None, though on some tapes, audio from other Paramount films, such as Paper Moon, can be faintly heard in the background as a result of accidental crosstalk.

Availability: Because VHS and Beta were in their infancies at the time, releases were in lower quantities.

This logo is preserved primarily on Betamax releases.
- This logo can also be found on a few VHS releases from 1979 and 1980 including the first two Godfather films, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, True Grit, Goin' South, Play It Again Sam, The Bad News Bears (1976 version), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Sunset Boulevard, Prophecy and Catch 22.
Among the last releases to use this logo were five volumes of Star Trek episodes as part of the "Television Classics" series on VHS and Betamax in summer 1980.
- Other final releases with this logo were tapes of Escape from Alcatraz, North Dallas Forty, Mandingo, Malicious, Prophecy, Players, and Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman.
This is also intact on a late 1983 pressing of The Odd Couple and a 1984 printing of Harold and Maude (usually, releases of movies printed around that time started with the "Acid Trip" warning screen, followed by the Paramount Pictures logo).

2nd Logo (October 3, 1980-January 26, 1981)

Visuals: On a blue background, the camera zooms out on a silhouette of a mountain. After the screen zooms out to a comfortable distance, a bright flash occurs behind the mountain, and white "stars" (they look like circles or lens flares) appear, as well as the Paramount script (in a school bus yellow color, but closer to the pre-1975 logos). A saffron-colored trapezoidal trail zooms out from the base, and "HOME VIDEO" (set in the same font as the previous logo) fades in soon after, tacked onto the saffron-colored trail. As that happens, the blue background gets extremely dark (resembling federal blue). The end result is similar to the pre-1967 print logo.

Trivia: The second half of the logo was once used as the 1977 Paramount Television Service logo. "PARAMOUNT TELEVISION SERVICE" was featured at the bottom, which explains the chyron for "HOME VIDEO".

Variant: On Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!, the logo cuts to the last half of the film's Paramount logo.

Technique: Backlit animation by Sullivan & Marks, with the "HOME VIDEO" text chyroned over the original "PARAMOUNT TELEVISION SERVICE" text.

Audio: A pounding backbeat as the mountain zooms out, then a synth chord mixed with a brief explosion sound and synthesized "sizzling".

Availability: The logo's appearances are few and far between; it is seen on VHS/Beta releases of the time, and a decent amount of movies have this.

Among the releases are Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!), Coast to Coast, Death Wish (reissue), Escape from Alcatraz (reissue), Breaking Glass, Friday the 13th, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Airplane!, Charlotte's Web (reissue), Little Darlings, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown! (reissue), Barbarella (reissue), Starting Over, American Gigolo, Urban Cowboy and Shogun, respectively.
Some, if any post-1981 prints also keep this logo intact.
It is also seen on certain Hi-Fi re-releases of Paramount's early releases (such as Downhill Racer and Death Wish) from 1984, and the original Hi-Fi VHS release of True Grit (1969 version).
It is also seen on a 2019 trailer of Bumblebee (2018) advertising a "VHS release" of said film.

3rd Logo (April 6, 1982-March 12, 1987)

The mountain
The logo
The mountain in B&W
The logo in B&W
A rare look at the logo in its static form.
In April 1998, the logo appeared on Sci-Fi Channel, and was slowed down, then froze at this point as seen here.

Visuals: Over a black background is the abstract mountain logo, with "Paramount" in black script in a light blue circle like the other Paramount logos, and the "A Gulf + Western Company" byline at the bottom in light blue. It begins to zoom in, as the stars (which are followed by light trail-streaks) and byline zoom past, and both the mountain and circle grow bigger until the camera is literally right on top of the peak of the mountain, with "Paramount" centering in, filling the middle of the screen. When the peak hits the bottom and "Paramount" fits the center, "Paramount" begins to shine. A very bright flash follows, and it dies down to reveal the Paramount script logo in blue and a small "VIDEO" shining a bit between two blue lines.

Variants:

A B&W variant exists.
A slightly longer variant also exists, which starts with a still shot of the blue Paramount print logo. After a little over a second, the music starts and the logo animates as normal.
At the end of an April 1998 Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) airing of The Devonsville Terror, the animation is slowed down but plays as normal until all that's left is "Paramount" and the mountain, when the logo freezes in place and the rest of the music is heard. It's unknown if this was used on any home media releases of the film, or any others. It's also possible that Sci-Fi Channel intentionally did this to hide any home video references.

Technique: Backlit cel animation by Editel Video in Los Angeles, California.

Audio: A building set of synthesized strings, accompanied by a few notes from a flute, ending in a new-age synthesizer tune. Composed by Rick Krizman.

Audio Variant: On the 1983 RCA CED videodisc release of An Evening with Robin Williams, this follows the RCA SelectaVision logo, but it is silent.

Availability: This is a very infrequent logo.

At the time, most Paramount films used the logo used on the film, but most television series (such as Star Trek, with the exception of the 1984 Television Classics LaserDisc release of the two-parter "The Menagerie", which uses no logo), comedy specials (such as Paramount Comedy Theater: Volume 1 and Eddie Murphy: Delirious), and licensed material (such as Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! and The Adventures of the American Rabbit) have this logo.
It is also preserved on most prints of the 1982 VHS release of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (the earliest prints, from around 1982 to early 1983, are confirmed to not have this), and a 1990 reprint of it also retains this logo.
It is also preserved on the 1992 release of A Dog of Flanders (along with the warning that preceded it), also likely a reprint itself.
The B&W variant of this logo can be found on the VHS release of The Untouchables pilot "Scarface Mob" and Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back, respectively.
This is also seen on the early 1990s re-release of Strong Kids, Safe Kids.
Other releases that have this include films Paramount issued under license from Atlantic Releasing Corporation (starting with Teen Wolf and ending with Extremities) and tapes of episodes of the drama Call to Glory.
This logo, as well as the multi-colored copyright warning, are also intact on the 1991 VHS print of Toho Entertainment's The Wizard Of Oz (1982).
Paramount Video also produced the first two seasons of Brothers, a sitcom which aired on Showtime from 1984 to 1989.
- As such, this was seen on episodes from those seasons, while the final two seasons would be produced by Paramount Television.

Legacy: This logo is a favorite of many, thanks to its music and animation.

4th Logo (April 20, 1987-April 24, 2007, mid-2010s in Asian VCDs, March 2014 in Indonesia)

NTSC DVD variant
PAL VHS variant
PAL DVD variant

Visuals: As the logo fades in, there is a model of the mountain from before with a CGI lake in front of it and a light blue/yellow gradient sky with a yellow sunset behind it. As the sky darkens, the camera zooms towards the mountain as 22 silver CGI stars fly from the bottom left and encircle the mountain. The "Paramount" script, redone with a shiny silver finish, then fades in on the peak of the mountain, along with a registered trademark symbol. One of the three bylines (as seen below) fades in below. This is basically the same as the theatrical logo of the era, except that the logo is videotaped; the picture quality is somewhat sharper and the color scheme is brighter than normal.

Bylines:

April 20, 1987-August 25, 1989: "A Gulf + Western Company". 1987 releases used the 75th Anniversary variant, while 1988-89 releases used the standard version.
September 7, 1989-May 9, 1995: "A Paramount Communications Company" with a line above the byline fades in. 1989-90 releases had the byline and line above it in gold, while 1990-95 releases had them in white.
June 13, 1995-April 24, 2007: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (in the 1990 "Wigga Wigga" font) with a line above the byline fades in, again, in white.

Trivia: Even though Paramount debuted an updated version of their movie logo in 1999, they still used the 1995 variant for home video releases and television films.

Variants:

On occasion, the logo begins much earlier than the theatrical variant.
Like its parent logo, at the end of VHS releases, only the finished product is seen, with the clouds moving in the background. This is also used as part of a series of bumpers placed before trailers on several Paramount tapes from 1999 to 2002 (more on that here).
An early Viacom byline uses the Gulf + Western/Paramount Communications variant, but when "A VIACOM COMPANY" fades in, the entire logo freezes.
Starting in the mid-1990s, the cloud background is slightly changed, like with its parent logo.
A short version of this logo exists, which can be found on screener VHS releases from Paramount.
A telecined version also exists, as evidenced by the video-generated fade-ins and fade-outs. It starts with an almost fully static logo (only the clouds move); after a few seconds, the animation starts normally. The color scheme also has a bit of a brownish/earthy tone to it. This variant can be seen on 1990-2001 VHS releases primarily from Nickelodeon (but not always), such as Peanuts VHS releases, Eureeka's Castle: Wide Awake at Eureeka's Castle (1997 release, at the beginning), The Adventures of Corduroy: The Dinosaur Egg, Gullah Gullah Island: Dance Along with the Daise Family, the Paramount Family Favorites release of Charlotte's Web (1973), Rugrats: A Rugrats Vacation (at the end), Rugrats: Dr. Tommy Pickles, Gullah Gullah Island: Christmas (at the beginning of the promotional copy), Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Treasure Hunt, Rugrats: Make Room for Dil, Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Pajama Party (later printings), Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Musical Movie (at the beginning), Better Off Dead (the 2000 release) and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Treasure of the Peacock's Eye.
Some tapes with the Viacom variant have the clouds become still once the Viacom byline appears.
A still version also exists, which is seen at the end of some VHS releases. This version is also preserved on the 2002 DVD releases of Rugrats: Decade in Diapers and SpongeBob SquarePants: Nautical Nonsense and Sponge Buddies and can be found on the 1992 U.S. VHS release of Demonic Toys (before the Full Moon logo).
The Viacom variant is slightly shifted up on some PAL DVD releases.
This logo is also spotted at the end of some trailers on screener VHS tapes from the company. Here, the logo is already formed, but there's copyright info under the mountain. The copyright info then fades out after a few seconds to make room for the byline to fade in.

Technique: A mixture of CGI animation and live-action, designed and composited by Jay Jacoby of Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation). The CGI stars were created by David Sieg at Omnibus/Abel on a III Foonly F1 computer, and the mountain scenery was a physical model created and filmed by Apogee, Inc.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie.

Audio Variants:

On the U.S. VHS releases of Fatal Attraction (plastering the 75th Anniversary logo) and The Blue Iguana, the 1987 Paramount Pictures fanfare is heard.
At the end of the It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown 1997 U.S. VHS release, the promotional copies of Dora the Explorer: Dora's Backpack Adventure and Boohbah: Comfy Armchair, and one promo on the 1995 screener VHS of Drop Zone, the 1989 "distorted" version of the 1987 Paramount Television theme is heard.
On most Paramount VCD releases in Indonesia released by Movieline Entertainment, quiet lawn grass sprinkler noises (which sounds like clock ticks or footsteps) are heard throughout the logo. This is actually the opening audio of the film Election, suggesting the logo was taken directly from that film.

Availability:

This was used as a de-facto home video logo; it is also one of the most frequently used logos, as it can be seen on every VHS, Beta, and LaserDisc release from that period - this also includes television series (such as the original Star Trek), comedy specials, and third-party acquisitions like Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (where this plasters the original Atlantic Releasing Corporation logo), Teen Wolf Too, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, and titles licensed from The Rank Organisation (such as The Red Shoes).
Many VHS releases should have either the 75th Anniversary print logo, or the standard Gulf+Western print logo (with no mention of "HOME VIDEO") on the packaging and labels.
The 75th Anniversary logo also plasters over the "Blue Mountain" logo on the 1987 U.S. VHS releases of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Crocodile Dundee, Children of a Lesser God, Top Gun, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, respectively.
- Meanwhile, the standard Gulf+Western version plasters over the 75th Anniversary logo on the 1988 U.S. VHS releases of Beverly Hills Cop II, The Untouchables, Back to the Beach, Fatal Attraction, and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, respectively.
- International VHS releases of these films (all released by CIC Video, with the exception of Crocodile Dundee) will likely have the film's original logo intact.
The Paramount Communications variant plasters the standard Gulf+Western version on 1990s VCD prints of The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.
This is also seen on all 1994-2004 Peanuts U.S. VHS releases and all Nickelodeon U.S. VHS releases from 1996 to 2003.
- The 75th Anniversary variant was also seen on a Showtime broadcast of Hamburger Hill from March 1991.
This logo was also seen on the direct-to-video films The Little Bear Movie and Blue's Big Musical Movie, respectively.
This and the CBS Video logo also made appearances on Freevee prints of the Touched by an Angel episodes "The Christmas Gift" and "Beautiful Dreamer".
It is also seen at the start of VHS releases and non-USA Network airings of TV movies from Wilshire Court Productions of the era.
It can also be found on a number of demo VHS releases from as late as 2007, despite its discontinuation on commercial releases in 2003.
- These include George Lopez: Why You Crying?, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks: Piggley Gets Into Trouble, and Wonder Pets!: Save The Wonder Pets!, released in 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively.
This will occasionally appear before the opening previews on certain VHS releases.
- One example of this is the Paramount reissue of Rugrats: A Baby's Gotta Do What a Baby's Gotta Do and some other Nickelodeon tapes from 1996.
This logo is also preserved on Echo Bridge Home Entertainment's DVD releases of Puppet Master 5 and the Mexican DVD release of Demonic Toys, each before the Full Moon logo, most likely due to older VHS masters being used.
The Viacom version was also spotted at the start of Disney Channel/ABC Family (now Freeform) airings of Teen Witch (Trans World Entertainment struck a deal with Viacom in the early 90s for TV distribution of their films, with Paramount subsequently inheriting those rights. This syndication deal also applied to Trans World's successors, Epic Productions and Vision International.) as well as Trifecta's syndicated prints of There Goes the Neighborhood and Another 48. Hrs, respectively, among others.
The version with the Paramount Television fanfare is also preserved at the end of the 2004 U.S. VHS release of Boohbah: Comfy Armchair, following the PBS Kids Video logo.
- It is also seen at the end of the 1997 U.S. VHS release of It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown.
Depending on the country, Paramount's VCD releases in Asian territories still used this logo until the mid-2010s; in the case of Indonesian VCD releases, this logo was used until 2014, and is shown after the Movieline Entertainment logo usually before the previews.

5th Logo (November 15, 1993)

Visuals: On a black background with blue filmstrips, the Paramount script is seen being written in a gold color in its trademark font. As this is occurring, the background opens up in segments to reveal the 1986 Paramount logo, without a byline and the stars in a light gold color.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A male announcer (Gene McGarr) says "Paramount Pictures, bringing you the finest in holiday entertainment, and the best of the new year". All of this is said against a bombastic fanfare, an excerpt from the end theme of The Untouchables (the 1987 movie), composed by Ennio Morricone.

Availability:

This logo was seen on three out of four VHS releases by the company in late 1993 that were available in McDonald's restaurants; these releases included Charlotte's Web, Ghost, and The Addams Family, respectively. It is played following a preview reel for releases for the 1993 holiday season (and to promote Paramount's films Addams Family Values and Wayne's World 2, as both films released that season).
The fourth VHS, Wayne's World, used the previously-viewed rental cassette's master and therefore doesn't use this.

Paramount Home Entertainment

1st Logo (November 12, 1996)

Visuals: Over a gold background, the Paramount script moves into its usual position onto the company's print logo, which is engraved onto the background, while the camera zooms out. Once the text settles, the Viacom "Wigga-Wigga" byline fades in underneath.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A male announcer (Nick Tate) says "Paramount Pictures, the best show in town!" In the background, the same music from the 5th Paramount Home Video logo (albeit abridged) is heard.

Audio Trivia: The tagline is a nod to Paramount's slogan in the 1920s: "If it's a Paramount picture, it's the best show in town."

Availability: Only seen on the original North American VHS release (both U.S. and Canadian prints) of Mission: Impossible. As with the previous logo, this follows a preview reel for releases during the 1996 holiday season.

2nd Logo (Early 1998-1999)

Visuals: Over a cloudy sunset background is a different CGI rendition of the famed Paramountain; it's covered with snow and ice, with the Paramount script and stars already formed on top of it, albeit without a byline. The camera slowly zooms in and rotates around the logo, showing the viewer the back of the mountain as a lens flare flashes.

Trivia: This logo appears to be the base for the Paramount Classics logo, which virtually has the same animation albeit in reverse.

Variant: Paramount adapted this logo for use on two trailers (see here for more details). This logo appears to be filmed, so it's possible it was intended to be a new theatrical logo but ended up being unused for that purpose (since Paramount re-did their 1986 logo in 1999).

Technique: CGI created by Pittard Sullivan.

Audio: A majestic orchestral fanfare ("The Crimson Gump" from the score of Forrest Gump, composed by Alan Silvestri) is heard throughout as Jim Cummings announces:

Early 1998: "In celebration of the end of one millennium and the dawn of another, Paramount Pictures is preparing to bring to movie lovers everywhere a collection of films that symbolize the best in its movie-making history..."
1998-1999: "...In celebration of the end of one century and the dawn of another...Paramount Pictures is proud to present a collection of films that symbolize the best in its movie-making history..."

Availability: This was only ever used on Paramount's "Millennium Collection" video trailer, which can be seen on the VHS releases of In & Out, Sliding Doors, Hard Rain, A Simple Plan, Event Horizon, Switchback, Twilight (1998), and A Smile Like Yours.

3rd Logo (May 7, 2002-December 27, 2008)

Fullscreen version
Widescreen version
Fullscreen videotaped version
Fullscreen filmed version
Widescreen version
4:3 center-cut version

Visuals: The camera pans down from a starry sky to a set of clouds. As the camera slowly zooms backwards, a few cometoid objects fly down and reveal themselves as the trademark Paramount stars that zoom past the camera. The familiar Paramount script (with a gold border) zooms out to show the camera had been watching a reflection (which fades to white) the entire time as a total of 22 stars shoot past the script and encircle the mountain (which is now more realistic in appearance and is missing the snow) on a dusk background. The script continues to zoom out before taking its place at the peak of the mountain. The Viacom byline (once again, with a line above) then fades in below the logo.

Variants:

For the logo's first year, 2002, the words "90^TH ANNIVERSARY" in gold, with "90" bigger and "^TH" smaller and on the top right of "90" and "ANNIVERSARY" below, fade in with the Viacom byline, sandwiched between the peak of the mountain. The trademark symbol ("™") is used in place of the registered trademark symbol ("®") in this variation. The logo's general color scheme is brighter and more cartoonish. One star at the beginning of the logo is absent, the clouds in the sky and around the mountain appear less realistic (with the ones around the mountain looking flatter compared to the later version), and the sky background in the second half appears to be stretched vertically (meaning that this variant was possibly animated for 4:3 screens; however, on We Were Soldiers, which was the first film to use the 90th Anniversary logo, the sky background is more or less unaltered). The stars have a stronger motion blur effect, and some of them in the final shot look darker. The stars in the final shot are somewhat off-center from the rest of the mountain, and there is also an error during the portion where the script zooms back, in which some of the stars seem to jump out of the reflection of the text. Also, the trademark symbol is yellow instead of white.
- The 90th Anniversary variant was reanimated to look more natural on Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure, with the trademark symbol also being changed to white.
A shorter version also exists, which starts with the stars zooming down through the clouds.
In rare cases, the logo does not fade in or out. An example of this is the 2005 U.S. VHS release of Dora the Explorer: It's a Party!.
A widescreen version exists. This can be seen on widescreen releases from Paramount.
A filmed version of the 2003 variant exists.
At the end of VHS releases, the finished product is seen, with the clouds moving westward in the background.
On the 2005 U.S. VHS release of Dora the Explorer: It's a Party!, the logo is zoomed in, like the Paramount Network Television logo.

Technique: CGI animation directed by Peter Schluter at BUF Compagnie, believed to have been done on one of BUF's 75 Silicon Graphics O2 units.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie.

Audio Variants:

At the end of the 2005 U.S. VHS release of Dora the Explorer: It's a Party!, the 1989 version of the 1987 Paramount Television theme is heard. However, it is not heard on the demo version of the U.S. VHS release thereof.
Mean Girls uses the Paramount on Parade fanfare.

Availability: This logo was used as another de-facto home video logo.

The 90th Anniversary version can be found on 2002 VHS and DVD releases such as Trading Places, Little Bear: Campfire Tales, Blue's Clues: Reading with Blue, SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories, MTV Yoga, Dora the Explorer: Move to the Music, The Day Reagan Was Shot, Flashdance, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (on the VHS release only, where this plasters the 1999 Paramount logo that the film uses, the Region 2 DVD keeps this logo intact before the menu), Black Sheep, Vanilla Sky, Major League, Damaged Care, Bleacher Bums, My Horrible Year!, all 3 Jackass volumes, Rugrats Christmas, Clockstoppers, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, and K-19: The Widowmaker, respectively.
The standard version can be found on almost every Paramount VHS released from 2003 onwards.
- It can also be found on the European versions of SpongeBob SquarePants DVD releases of Nautical Nonsense and Sponge Buddies and Halloween, respectively.
The standard version also plasters the 90th Anniversary variant of the 2002 Paramount Pictures logo on the 2003 VHS releases of Extreme Ops, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure, Jackass: The Movie, and The Hours, respectively.
The zoomed-in version as well as the closing version with the Paramount Television fanfare was only seen on the 2005 U.S. VHS release of Dora the Explorer: It's a Party!.
The closing version is seen at the end of all Paramount VHS releases from 2002-2006.
Demo tapes still used this logo through the end of 2008 (a few demo tapes from 2004-2007 used the 4th logo), while VCD releases continued using this logo until 2007 (such as the 2007 VCD of Flushed Away (2006)).
The standard version also makes an appearance on the 2009 Australian DVD release of Charlie & Boots.

Final Note

Current PHE releases use the 2011-present Paramount Pictures logo without any modifications.

Paramount Home Entertainment

Paramount DVD
Paramount High Definition

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