Republic Entertainment

This article is about the renamed National Telefilm Associates. For the original film company, see Republic Pictures (1935-1967). For other uses, see Republic Pictures (disambiguation).

Background

On December 28, 1984, National Telefilm Associates (NTA) was renamed Republic Pictures Corporation. After a 25-year hiatus, Republic Pictures returned to active production with a number of movies, series for television including the CBS series Beauty and the Beast, and TV movies, although they did produce few independent theatrical films including Freeway. Their Home Video unit was renamed to Republic Pictures Home Video.

In January 1989, Republic formed a television unit as a joint venture with United Artists Communications (not to be confused with United Artists Pictures). The joint venture planned to produce television programming over the next five years with $60 million in start-up costs, while Republic Pictures Corporation managed the unit and distributed its programs.

In 1993, Republic won a landmark legal decision reactivating the copyright on Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life (they had already owned the film's negative, music score, and the story on which it was based, "The Greatest Gift").

In 1994, Spelling Entertainment, controlled by Blockbuster Entertainment, acquired Republic and merged their Worldvision Enterprises' existing Home Video unit with Republic's. Shortly thereafter, Viacom purchased Blockbuster and Spelling consolidated its many divisions, with Republic Pictures being renamed as "Republic Entertainment, Inc." In 1996, Spelling shut down Republic Pictures' film production unit and reduced Republic solely as a home video company.

In 1998, Viacom dismantled Spelling's non-television assets, and after folding Republic's home video unit, licensed the home video rights of their films to Artisan Entertainment. A year later, Viacom acquired 100% interest in Spelling and Republic was then made an in-name-only unit of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom. Republic was soon folded by Viacom in 2015, who created a new holding company called "Melange Pictures, LLC" as the holder of the Republic film library and later signed a new video deal with Olive Films, who currently distributes their films on DVD/Blu-Ray after Paramount's deal with Lionsgate expired.

As for the TV library, most of it is currently owned by ViacomCBS through CBS Television Distribution and Spelling Television Inc., all of them controlled by National Amusements, Inc. The syndication rights to the theatrical library are controlled by Paramount, with U.S. broadcast syndication rights licensed to Trifecta Entertainment & Media.

1st Logo (1985?-1987)

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Nicknames: "The Bald Eagle IV", "The Bald Eagle in the Sky II"

Logo: Same as the previous logo, but this time, the logo is computerized, with some clouds appearing to move, and the text "REPUBLIC PICTURES" flies in from the bottom of the screen.

Variants:

• On some movies, the word "Presents" would fade in below the logo, in a script font.
• There is also a black and white variant.
• There are videotaped and filmed variants.
• There is also a variant with the text "REPUBLIC PICTURES" simply fading in. The text is in the same font, but is less-detailed.

FX/SFX: The clouds moving, and the company name flying up or fading in.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie, or none.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's seen on some Republic Pictures movies. The "Presents" version appears on Gun Battle at Monterey on Starz Encore Westerns. The variant with the text fading in appears at the end of a 1995 VHS of It's a Wonderful Life.

Editor's Note: The "retroness" of the logo as well as the computer effects make this logo look outdated. Also, the "filmed" version is just a kinescope of the videotaped version, which explains why it looks blurry.

2nd Logo (1987-1990)

Nicknames: "The Bald Eagle V", "The Restored Bald Eagle"

Logo: On a sky background, we see the bald eagle from the previous logos (not including the Castle Republic Pictures logos). The words REPUBLIC PICTURES fly up.

FX/SFX: The company name flying up.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare. Appears on some Republic Pictures videos from the late '80s.

Editor's Note: Not much effort here. Very boring logo.

3rd Logo (1990-1994)

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Nicknames: "The Bald Eagle VI", "The Restored Bald Eagle II"

Logo: On a blue sky background, we see the bald eagle standing on a mountain with the words "REPUBLIC PICTURES" below. White clouds are also shown at the bottom.

FX/SFX: The company name fading in or none.

Music/Sounds: The patriotic fanfare from the '50s. In most cases, the opening theme of the movie, or none.

Availability: Very rare. Appears on some Republic Pictures movies from the early '90s.

Editor's Note: Again, not much effort here. The scope variant looks pretty good, actually.

4th Logo (1993-2010)

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Nicknames: "The Bald Eagle VII", "CGI Bald Eagle"

Logo: We start with a white cloud background. Then the sky and the clouds disperse, revealing the old view of the Republic Pictures bald eagle, redone in CGI. At the bottom-right is the rock. "REPUBLIC PICTURES", in white fades-in underneath and until 2006, the respective company byline appears below the company name.

Bylines:

• 1993-1994, 2006-2010: Bylineless
• 1994-1995:"A Unit of Spelling Entertainment, Inc."
• 1995: "A UNIT OF SPELLING ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC."
• 1995-2006: "A Subsidiary of Spelling Entertainment Group, Inc."

Variants:

• There is also a "60th Anniversary" variant.
• There is also a still variant.
• In 1997, a slightly shorter version appeared which cuts the fade-in from white in the first few seconds of the logo. This was used in tandem with the standard version.
• On some television movies, a shortened animated variant without the Spelling byline was used.
• Some Artisan DVD releases used an extremely short version that fades in when the "REPUBLIC PICTURES" text appears.

FX/SFX: The camera panning to show the Republic bald eagle.

Music/Sounds: A wind-blowing effect, followed by a dramatic string tune. The still variant uses the second half of the jingle.

Music/Sounds Variant: This logo plastered the Paramount logo on some 1990s-era prints of the Fleischer Brothers' animated Gulliver's Travels. On said prints, the beginning of the opening credits music played over this logo.

Availability: Uncommon. It was mostly used as a de-facto home video or TV logo.

• It rarely appears on films, but such films that feature this logo include the remastered version of It's a Wonderful Life and Two-Bits & Pepper. You can also find it on TV movies such as Armed and Innocent alongside a mid'90s PBS broadcast of Victory at Sea.
• VHS releases that feature this logo include The Tin Soldier, the 1997 release of Highlander, several Hallmark Hall of Fame tapes from the era, as well as VHS releases of Ghostwriter.
• The 1995 byline variant can be found on the VHS release of A Lady Takes a Chance.

Also appeared on the Roku Channel's print of Highlander II: The Quickening, which was clearly derived from a pan-and-scan master from the '90s.

• The bylineless variant was seen on the mini-series The Stand, as well as DVD releases from Artisan and Lionsgate such as Freeway and Bound.
• On television shows, it appears on shows like The High Chaparral on INSP, H&I and Decades (occasionally) (Although some updated prints plaster this with the CBS Television Distribution logo) and Bonanza. On the DVD release of the short-lived series Kindred: The Embraced, this is seen after the Spelling Television logo, however, it was not seen on the original Fox airings.

Editor's Note:

• The overall execution and concept of this logo might come off as boring to some.
• It's kinda unusual why the logo kept the name of it's former owner (Spelling Entertainment) even though it had been absorbed by Viacom in 1999 until 2006.