Roadside Attractions

Background

Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate bought a portion of Roadside in 2007.

1st Logo (May 7, 2004-January 27, 2012)

Nickname: "The Roadside Attractions Sign"

Logo: We see a windy purple night sky and a faint view of a fair sign that has two stage lights illuminating it. This turns out to be a reflection on a white 50s-style car, and the car's headlights are on. We then turn to the sign, which ends up being the Roadside Attractions logo. On the logo, the letters "R", "O", "A", "D", "S", "I", "D", and "E" are in red on white pieces of cloth in a handwritten font, and the "Attractions" part of the logo is a yellow spiral arrow with "Attractions" written in a retro blue font. The stage lights turn off, and the logo fades out.

Variants:

On the teaser trailer of Branded, the logo is short and in black and white.
On What the #$*! Do We Know!?, the logo has darker colors.

FX/SFX: The camera turning towards the logo.

Music/Sounds: A brief reverse violin loop followed by a calm country tune. Sometimes, it's silent.

Availability: Uncommon. It appears on some relatively well-known independent films, such as I.O.U.S.A. and the 2005 version of Lassie. It first appeared on Super Size Me and was last seen on Albert Nobbs.

Editor’s Note: Although this logo has very good CGI for 2004, it’s a bit outdated now.

2nd Logo (March 7, 2012-)

Nickname: "The Roadside Attractions Sign II"

Logo: We see a blurred view of a city through the window of a moving bus at nighttime. Then we move forward on a road, with the city still ahead and a roadsign standing in the distance, illuminated by four searchlights below it and four on the ground. Though it has the same design as before, it is now red and more elaborate. We move toward the sign, slowly panning around it, while the searchlights move back and forth.

Trivia: This logo was done by Los Angeles-based Stampede Post Productions.

Variant: On some films, the logo is shortened to its last few seconds.

FX/SFX: The camera turning towards the logo and the searchlights moving.

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare with brass instruments and strings. Sometimes the opening theme of the movie is used.

Availability: First appeared on the trailer for Tonight You're Mine (a.k.a. You Instead) and seen on all films following it. The short version can be seen on Friends with Kids.

Editor’s Note: It’s a great successor to the previous logo.