Seven Arts Pictures

Credits

Captures by
Camenati

Video captures courtesy of
MachineryNoise, Eric S., and DudeThatLogo

Background

Seven Arts Pictures was a low-profile/B-movie distribution company established on July 19, 1990, as a joint venture between Carolco Pictures and New Line Cinema (now part of Warner Bros. Pictures), and was headed by Mario F. Kassar. Today, the entire Seven Arts library is now owned by StudioCanal. This studio is not to be confused with UK's "Seven Arts Entertainment" and its division "Seven Arts International" and Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman's "Seven Arts Productions", who also merged with Warner Bros. Pictures in 1967 forming "Warner Bros.-Seven Arts".

1st Logo (September 14-28? 1990)

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Logo: On a black background, we see many stars forming a blue box with a stylized "7A" inside it, with "SEVEN" above and "ARTS" below. Then we see the byline "THROUGH NEW LINE CINEMA" (with its print logo) on the bottom right of the screen.

Variant: On the trailer for Repossessed, a 2-D version appears in grey, with the byline in a whitish color.

Technique: The stars forming the name.

Music/Sounds: Starts out with some tinkles when the stars are forming the logo, then 7 synth-horn notes and a descending, relaxing synth theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: Some prints of Repossessed have the Carolco jingle instead.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Repossessed. It may have been seen on theatrical prints of King of New York, but home media releases have no logo.

2nd Logo (February 1-September 10, 1991 or November 1991?)

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Logo: On a black background, we see a shiny blue "7A" zooming out. The Seven Arts text is then seen at a certain point. The logo shines, and the New Line byline fades in.

Variant: There is a version without the "Through New Line Cinema" byline.

Technique: The zooming, shining, and byline fading-in.

Music/Sounds: A peaceful synth choir theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: A French VHS of The Dark Wind presumably overlaid the film's French audio track onto what was supposed to be a U.S. theatrical print (it went straight-to-video in America). As a result, the Seven Arts jingle is replaced with that of UGC, the film's French distributor.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Rambling Rose. Also seen on a Canadian VHS of Queens Logic. The bylineless version is seen on Dice Rules. It may have been seen on some theatrical prints of Defenseless, Get Back (The Paul McCartney concert film), and Sweet Talker, but the home video releases show no evidence.

3rd Logo (March 13-June 12, 1992)

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Logo: Over an orange or purple cloudy background, a 3D cube rotates into view from the top left, when it is facing the screen and in the center, lasers etch the "7A" logo, then the etching explodes, leaving behind the standard "7A" logo. The "Seven Arts" text appears, and the New Line byline fades in below.

Technique: The clouds moving, the cube rotating, the lasers, the cube exploding, and the logo forming.

Music/Sounds: A synth trumpet leading into a synth orchestra fanfare when the logo explodes. Some laser zaps are heard when the lasers etch the logo.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Light Sleeper and Aces: Iron Eagle III.

Legacy: This logo can make people jumpy with the dark atmosphere and the lasers, but it has a clean, professional look. With that, it's not a bad way to send off the company.