Paramount Home Entertainment

Background

Paramount Home Media Distribution (formerly "Paramount Home Entertainment", "Paramount Home Video", and "Paramount Video") is Paramount Pictures' home media division and was formed around 1978/1979 (some sources claim late 1975). The company owns the home media rights to films owned by Paramount and shows from sister company Viacom Media Networks (under individual labels such as MTV Home Video and other subsidiaries). The company also licenses the right to release material from CBS Corporation (such as CBS Television Studios/CBS Television Distribution and Showtime Networks material and released through CBS Home Entertainment, although CBS Films material is released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate Home Entertainment) and several independent studios. They formerly released DreamWorks Animation material through DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment until 2014, when the latter acquired distribution rights to their library and transferred the rights to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. On September 27, 2011, Paramount Home Entertainment was renamed Paramount Home Media Distribution after merging with Paramount Digital and Television. Starting in 2012, the Republic Pictures library and select Paramount films were licensed to Olive Films and Kino Lorber. From 2013-2016, the company licensed the home media rights to most of the Paramount Pictures (with some exceptions) library to Warner Home Video. Paramount continues to release licensed material and material from sister companies.

Paramount Home Video

1st logo (1979-Summer 1980)

Nicknames: "Still Mountain", "Boring Mountain", "Blue Mountain"

Logo: On a navy blue background, we see "Paramount" in the famous script, and "HOME VIDEO" below that in a wide Microgramma Bold font in between two lines, one above and one below. To the right of that, we see the 1968 Paramount print logo to the right, complete with the Gulf+Western byline. A moment later, a warning screen (also on a navy blue background) fades over this logo.

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

FX/SFX: None, unless you count the fade to the warning screen.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. Because VHS and Beta were in their infancies at the time, releases were in lower quantities and are harder to find.

This logo appeared primarily on Betamax releases. This should appear 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 (Those releases are out of print, having been replaced in 1985 by Paramount's single-episode releases, and are hard to find). Other final releases with this logo were tapes of Escape from Alcatraz, North Dallas Forty, Mandingo, Malicious, and Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman.
This surprisingly appears on a late 1983 pressing of The Odd Couple (usually, releases printed around that time started with the "Acid Trip" warning screen, followed by the Paramount Pictures Logo).

Editor's Note: One of the 1st home video company logos ever made, it shows that it's pretty simple.

2nd logo (October 1980-January 1981)

Nicknames: "Mountain Silhouette", "Scanimated Mountain of Doom", "Black Mountain", "Rising Mountain", "Cheesy Mountain", "In the Shadow of Paramount"

Logo: On a blue background, we zoom out on a silhouette of a mountain. After we zoom 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 "Paramount" (in a school bus yellow script, 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) zooms out soon after, tacked onto the saffron-colored trail. As that happens, the blue background gets extremely dark (looking like federal blue). The end result looks like 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". The original version of the Logo was produced by the design firm of Sullivan & Marks.

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

FX/SFX: A combination of The flash and the effects are pure Scanimate effects.

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

Availability: Like the first logo, this is also extremely rare, but more because of the fact that this was only used on two batches of releases and re-releases.

Seen on VHS/Beta releases of the time, which are not that easy to find, especially since the logo was usually taken off of post-1981 prints. However, since this was on a decent variety of movies, it may help a little.
Among the releases are Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!), Death Wish, Escape from Alcatraz, Breaking Glass, Friday the 13th, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Airplane!, Charlotte's Web, Little Darlings, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!, Barbarella, Starting Over, American Gigolo, Urban Cowboy and Shogun.
Some, if very little, post-1981 prints surprisingly keep this logo intact.
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).
Don't expect this logo on LaserDisc releases, as it was replaced with the Laservision Logo.

Editor's Note: It shares the same amount of cheesiness from the Paramount Television Service, with the added edition of the cheap cut to it and the chyroned "HOME VIDEO" text. It is also known to creep out some thanks to the ominous music and nature. On the other hand, it's a favorite to those looking for the tapes that have this logo.

3rd logo (1983-March 1987)

Provided ID could not be validated.

Nickname: "CGI Disc Mountain", "Perumount V"

Logo: We see the 1986-2002 Paramount logo (with the Viacom byline) already formed. However, the "Paramount" text is black and a disc is behind the mountain. "DVD" is below the mountain, with the Viacom byline below that.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the TV spot.

Availability: Extinct. Was seen on a 2002 TV spot for the DVD release of Rat Race. It is unknown if this appeared anywhere else, but don't expect to see an animated variant on early Paramount DVDs as it never existed nor was used; early Paramount DVDs at the beginning jump to the FBI Warnings instead.

Editor's Note: Its existence was debated for a while, since its rushed look does make it look like a fanmade logo.

2nd Logo January 7, 2003-March 5, 2019)

Nicknames: "CGI Disc Mountain II", "Dark Mountain of Steel", "Dark Perumount", "Perumount VI"

Logo: It starts off with the 2002 Paramount logo animation with the stars flying through the clouds, the zoom out of the "Paramount" script, and the stars coming in and circling around the mountain. When we are at a comfortable distance, a DVD disc flies in from the bottom, glides and settles behind the summit and the Paramount script. Then, a bright flash underneath the peak brings forth "DVD" with a line below it, and the Viacom byline (in the same font as the 1990 Viacom logo) below the line. The background fades to black, and a white laser scans the disc in a downward motion, turning the entire DVD Paramountain silver. The finished product almost resembles the Paramount DVD print Logo.

Trivia: This logo appears on the original Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DVD releases of The Avengers and Iron Man 3, alongside the Marvel logo. This is because The Walt Disney Company (owner of the films' production company Marvel Studios) and Viacom came to an agreement for the films' distribution to transfer from Paramount Pictures to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, but Paramount still had two films left in their six-movie contract with Marvel. So, Paramount's logo would appear on the films and promotional material.

Variant: At the end of the logo, a menu would appear with two selections which are "PREVIEWS" and "MAIN MENU", both of which would take you there. When either one was selected, the Paramount logo fades out, with the selections disappearing a second afterward. This was seen on some early DVD releases with this logo, such as The Italian Job (2003 version), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Rugrats Go Wild!, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete First Season, The Ren & Stimpy Show: The First and Second Seasons and All Grown Up: Lucky 13 (the last release to use this variant).

FX/SFX: The DVD disc gliding on the 2002 Paramount Pictures logo animation.

Music/Sounds: It starts off silent, but when the stars fly by some whooshing sounds are heard, culminating in a synthesized explosion effect with a thunderclap. As the white laser scans down, a humming sound can be heard.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the post-menu-selection variation, a soft "bong" is heard as the logo fades out, followed by a whirling sound when the selections disappear.

Availability: Very common.

It's seen on many post-2003 DVD releases released by the company, starting with the 2003 DVD release of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (even though the print logo on the cover has "90th Anniversary" tacked on to it).
This logo was seen on DVD releases of Paramount Television-owned series from 2003 to 2006 (when the rights went to CBS Home Entertainment after Viacom and CBS Corporation became separate companies), such as the 2004 releases of season 1 of Happy Days, and season 1 of The Andy Griffith Show and the 2005 release of season 2 of the latter.
After 2004 on Nickelodeon TV shows on DVD, this logo doesn't show up.
Some DVD releases have "90th Anniversary" added on to this logo's print version, but they just contain the normal logo. Examples of this are the 2002 DVD releases of SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories, Flashdance, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Black Sheep, Vanilla Sky, and Trading Places. This logo continued to be used until 2019, as seen on such releases as Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Project Almanac, Boyhood, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Gambler (the Mark Wahlberg version), and Interstellar, even though Paramount Pictures debuted a new logo in 2011.
The last release to use this logo was Instant Family, released on March 5, 2019.

Editor's Note: Even though Viacom changed their byline in 2010, and the Paramount logo in 2011, this logo continued to be used throughout the 2010s. However, it is not a favorite of some since you cannot bypass this logo, either with the Menu, Fast Forward, or Skip buttons on the majority of the company's DVD output.

Paramount High Definition (2006-March 5, 2019)

Nicknames: "Digital Mountain", "From SD to HD", "Digital Paramount", "Perumount VII"

Logo: We first see the effect of a television getting switched on, zooming out from one of the stars and transitioning to the middle of the 2002 Paramount Logo in a poor image quality. When the star reaches the mountain's peak, two white lines appear and move across the picture vertically from the center, sharpening the picture and forming the silver text:

HIGH
DEFINITION

which zooms out into place. The Viacom byline (without the line) from the previous three logos fades in below and the HD text shines.

Trivia: This logo appears on the original Disney Blu-ray releases of The Avengers and Iron Man 3 (see the Trivia section for the previous logo).

FX/SFX: The television static, the zooming away from the star, and the revelation of the text.

Music/Sounds: Some television static sound effects and a few loud whooshes and shining sounds.

Availability: Very common. It's seen on Paramount's Blu-ray releases from 2006 to early 2019.

It was also seen on Paramount HD-DVD releases from 2006 to 2008, such as Four Brothers and The Italian Job (2003).
Starting sometime in 2007, Paramount's high definition releases were being exclusive to HD-DVD.
When Toshiba announced they would discontinue HD-DVD, Paramount Home Media Distribution, like all other home media companies, became Blu-ray only.
Their first film on Blu-ray since HD-DVD's discontinuation was The Spiderwick Chronicles.
This logo can be found on releases with the print version of this Logo on the box art.
It was also found on the 2008 Blu-ray release of Last Holiday, in which the print Logo was absent on the box art, meaning this logo is still in use, but no longer a has print counterpart.
This logo does not appear on UHD 4K Blu-ray Discs, as they use the 2011-present film Logo.
The last release to use this logo was Instant Family, released on March 5, 2019.

Editor's Note: Same as the previous logo, though there's nothing really simple nor surprising about this.

Final Note

Beginning with the release of Bumblebee, all Paramount DVDs and Blu-rays began using the 2011-present theatrical logo.