Paramount Home Entertainment/Warning Screens

Warning descriptions by SonicRacer, wisp2007 and XthebiglogofanX
Editions by XthebiglogofanX, NateSpidgewood, McDonald's1, and MattBr

USA/Canadian Warning Screens

1st Warning (November 1979-June 1980)

Warning: On a dark blue background, we see the standard warning text in white. This follows the 1979-1980 Paramount Home Video logo.

FX/SFX: The fade in transformation from the logo to the warning.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on Betamax releases and a few VHS releases with the 1979 Paramount Home Video logo, including the first two Godfather films, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, Goin' South, Play It Again Sam, The Bad News Bears (1976 version), Prophecy, Harold and Maude (a 1984 printing retained both this and the preceding logo) and Catch 22. On the original 1980 VHS of North Dallas Forty, this appears right before the first scene of the film.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Warning (July 1980-May 3, 1989, 1990, 2001, 2002)

Paramount Warning (1982)Paramount Home Video Warning (1984-1988)

Nicknames: "Acid Trip", "Taste the Rainbow"

Warning: On a background of changing colors (green, yellow, red, pink, purple, blue and green again) [ala the 1989-2005 MGM/UA Home Video logo], we see the same text as before in large white lettering, in an ITC Serif Gothic font.

Variants:

• In an early variation of this warning, the text is smaller, in yellow instead of white, and in a different font (Bauhaus 93), with another period that the normal version does not contain. This was used until 1984.
• Some Paramount Home Video releases of black & white films in North America from 1980-1989 used a variant of either of these two warnings that was in those exact colors.

FX/SFX: The changing colors.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on all releases from this era. The Bauhaus variant can be seen on tapes including later prints of the original release of Grease. The variant is also spotted on Star Trek Paramount tapes from the 1980s (with "Paramount HOME VIDEO" on the side and the Gulf+Western print mountain on the other). The last release to use this warning was The Accused. Strangely, this was spotted on the 1991 VHS of 48 Hrs. and its 1993 reprint, as well as the 1992 VHS of Pretty in Pink. Astonishingly, this remained in print on some tapes well into the 21st century, as demonstrated by a 2001 printing of The Longest Yard (1974 version) and a 2002 pressing of The Bridges at Toko-Ri.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Warning (May 17, 1989-January 5, 2007)

Paramount Home Video Warning (1989)Paramount Home Video Warning (1989-1995)Paramount Home Video Warning (1995-2006) Paramount Communications Canadian Warning ScreenParamount Warning Screen (1995-2006, Canadian variant)Paramount DVD Warning (1998-2002) Paramount DVD Warning (French - 2001)ParamountDemoWarningParamountScreener

Warning: Transforming from the zooming in of "FEATURE PRESENTATION" from the Paramount Feature Presentation ID of the era, we see a wallpaper with copies of the Paramount logo all over it. We see the standard Warning in the ITC Korinna font.

Background Colors:

• May 17-October 16, 1989: Mauve/white gradient.
• November 9, 1989-January 5, 2007: Dark blue gradient.

Bylines:

• May 17-October 16, 1989: A Gulf+Western Company
• November 9, 1989-May 16, 1995: A Paramount Communications Company (The "FEATURE PRESENTATION" version has a different font for the Paramount Communications byline: sans serif.)
• June 13, 1995-January 5, 2007: A VIACOM COMPANY (in the Viacom Wigga-Wigga font).

Variants:

• When the Paramount Communications variant started its usage, a shadow effect was applied to the text.
• On the Viacom variant, the font is changed to ITC Benguiat Medium.
• One variant has a light/dark gray gradient background and more text as well. This screen appears on Paramount DVD releases from late 1998-Spring 2002, such as Wayne's World, Black Sheep, all three of The Naked Gun films on DVD, The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats in Paris, the Rugrats' Decade in Diapers DVD, many early DVDs of Eddie Murphy films, Blue's Big Musical Movie, What Women Want, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
• Demo tapes (such as The Ghost and the Darkness or Dollman vs. Demonic Toys) asked the viewer to call a certain telephone number and to help prevent video piracy. The text also scrolls up. On Dollman vs. Demonic Toys, the font is different, the word "forever" is between the words "shall" and "remain", and no "FEATURE PRESENTATION" follows it.
• The Canadian version has the word "WARNING" in red, underlined in white, along with modified warning text.
• Canadian VHS tapes from 1989-1995 use the Canadian warning screen, with the text being in a sans-serif font.
• On the 1998 VHS of Titanic, the 1991 VHS of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the 1991 laserdisc of Apocalypse Now, the 1997 releases of the Godfather trilogy and a different version of The Truman Show, because they didn't contain the "FEATURE PRESENTATION" ID, this screen instead faded in from black.
• Academy screener tapes tell the viewer that the tape is being loaned for the purpose of personal review. This appeared on the Academy screener tape of Alfie (the 2004 remake). No "FEATURE PRESENTATION" follows it either.
• A French Canadian variant of the warning screen exists. So far, it has only appeared on the 2002 French Canadian Special Edition pressing of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
• On the 1990 S-VHS of The Last Crusade (and possibly other S-VHS releases), a mixed-case Foundation Sans Light font is used.

FX/SFX: The transformation from the "FEATURE PRESENTATION" zoom in to the Warning.

Music/Sounds: None, unless you count the fade out of the Paramount fanfare.

Availability: Seen on all videos from this period. The Gulf+Western variant, however, is a tough find, but can be found on some Paramount tapes, and was used on first-edition pressings of Coming to America. The other two variants are easier to find. The gray-colored background variant can be found on most Paramount DVDs released from 1997-2002. The demo version and the Academy screener version are among the rarest. Like Warner Home Video's warning screen, this never appeared in Spanish.

Editor's Note: Akin to the 6th and 8th Disney warning screens and the 4th Fox warning screens, this is also one of the most recognizable warning screens.

4th Warning (Alternate, 1989)

Paramount Home Entertainment Warning Screen (1989)

Nicknames: "Another Acid Trip", "Taste the Rainbow Again"

Warning: On a color-changing gradient background, we see the warning text in white, and in a different font (Times New Roman).

FX/SFX: Same as the 2nd screen.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Spotted on a 1989 VHS release of Star Trek: The Animated Series - Volume Five.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Warning (2002-)

Paramount Warning Screen (2002, 90th Anniversary variant)Paramount Home Entertainment Canada Warning (2002)Paramount Warning Screen (A)Paramount Warning Screen (B)Paramount Warning 2002Paramount Warning Screen Black Background (2016)

Nickname: "Where's the Paramountains?"

Warning: On a navy blue background, we see the warning text from the 1998 DVD variant of the 3rd warning, in the same font as well.

Variants:

• Sometimes, the background is eggplant-colored.
• Sometimes, this screen cuts to the same text but in Spanish.
• There is a variant which has the text in a bolder appearance, and the background is in a blue-black gradient. This version fades in from black, due to it not following the Paramount Feature Presentation bumper. It can be seen on PBS Home Video and PBS Kids tapes from the period.
• There is an early version of this warning which has the same text as the last warning. It can be seen on tapes with the 90th Anniversary Feature Presentation bumper. A version with the Canadian warning text appears on Canadian tapes with this bumper.
• Sometimes, the text is spaced. It can be found on widescreen DVDs.
• On CBS Blu-ray releases from Paramount, such as the 2016 release of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, a black background version is used. This version has the text arranged differently.

FX/SFX: None, unless you want to count the transformation from English to Spanish on some DVDs.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Current on all Paramount releases from 2002-present, CBS Home Entertainment releases, and DreamWorks releases from 2006-2011. The VHS version was used only on 2002 releases in that format; the 3rd Warning's usage was restarted at the beginning of 2003. Starting in 2013, Paramount DVDs use the current Universal warning, though this still appears at the very end; however, this still appears at the beginning of some new releases.

Editor's Note: None.

International Warnings

General

1st Warning (1980-2005)

See CIC Video Warning Screen.

2nd Warning (2010?-)

TBA.

United Kingdom

1st Warning (2000-2001)

See CIC Video Warning Screen.

2nd Warning (2000-)

Paramount Home Video (UK) Opening Warning Screen (2000)Paramount Home Video (UK) Closing Warning Screen (2000) (1)Paramount Home Video (UK) Closing Warning Screen (2000) (2)Paramount Home Video (UK) Closing Warning Screen (2000) (3)Paramount Home Entertainment 2001 DVD Warning Screen (S1)Paramount Home Entertainment 2001 DVD Warning Screen (S2)

Warning: We see a blue wallpaper with the Paramount logo (with Viacom byline) all over it. We see the standard warning in the Futura font. Like most CIC Video warnings, at the end of the tapes, there is a longer version.

Trivia: The background is similar to that of the Viacom version of the warning screen used in North America.

Variants:

• DVD releases show the text in the Arial font.
• There's also a version with the Paramount 90th Anniversary logos, which appeared on UK/Australia 2002 releases.

FX/SFX: None, except for the text scrolling at the end of the tapes.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on some UK Paramount Home Entertainment VHS and DVD releases like Forrest Gump, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Airplane, Save the Last Dance, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and SpongeBob SquarePants DVDs.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Warning (2003-2005)

Paramount Home Video (UK) Warning Screen (2003)

Warning: The 1986-2003 Paramount logo animates, then it backs away revealing itself on the inside of a VCR. Some tape appears with "WARNING" scrolling on it. We cut to several shots, in sync with the music. We cut to one more shot that lasts in the rest of the warning. The warning text appears below in the ITC Coundit font. At the end of the tape, more detailed warning text appears scrolling up like the credits of a movie.

FX/SFX: All CGI.

Music/Sounds: A piano-jazz tune, with the sounds of the VCR as a background noise. The final part of the music is an ascending tune played by the piano. The end of the tape only has the VCR sounds.

Availability: Common in the UK and Ireland. Seen on The Core, SpongeBob SquarePants VHS tapes, and Clockstoppers.

Editor's Note: None.

Australia

TBA.

Japan

1st Warning (1990)

Warning: Same as the American 1980 warning screen, but the text is in Japanese.

FX/SFX: Same as the American 1980 warning screen.

Music/Sounds: None..

Availability: Seen on the 1990 Japanese VHS of Roman Holiday.

Editor's Note: Same as the American 1980 warning screen.