Sunn Classic Pictures

Logo descriptions by Matt Williams, Eric S., and others Logo captures and editions by Eric S. and others

Background: Sunn Classic Pictures was founded in 1971 as a subsidiary of the razor company Schick. The company was among the many that popularized the concept of “Four Walling”, in which a studio goes from town to town leasing theatre space for a limited engagement, saturates the local market with advertising, and rakes in all the box-office grosses instead of sharing it with the individual theatres. Sunn Classic also used computerized market research to develop its films. Its niche was in speculative documentaries and family-friendly narrative films such as Grizzly Adams. Sunn was acquired by Taft Broadcasting in 1980, and years later, folded into Taft Entertainment. Currently the library is owned by ViacomCBS through Paramount Pictures (feature films) and CBS Television Distribution (TV programs). Many of their films have not been available on DVD with the exception of Cujo.

(November 13, 1974-1987)

Nicknames: "The Sun", "The Cheesy Sun"

Logo: On a space background, we zoom out and we see an eclipsed sun, which turns into a drawing of a sun. "SUN" on a bold font appears inside it. Below it, these words appear:

• 1974-1979: "SCHICK SUN CLASSIC PICTURES PRESENTS" (with "Schick" above "SUN")
• 1975-1978: "SUNN CLASSIC PICTURES PRESENTS" (with "Schick" above "SUNN")
• 1978-1987: "SUN CLASSIC PICTURES"

FX/SFX: The animation of the flames on the eclipsed sun.

Music/Sounds:

• The opening variant often featured a triumphant orchestral piece.
• In other cases, a more orchestrated version with bells and percussion sounds was heard.
• On In Search of the Historic Jesus, a long version of the Taft International Pictures logo jingle was heard.
• The closing logo featured a majestic sounding orchestral piece made of strings. Another variant of the same jingle was also used, but using piano and brass as the main melody.

Availability: Very rare. It appeared on Vestron Video releases of Greatest Heroes of the Bible: The Story of Esther, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and Battle Beyond the Street, and the Starmaker Video release of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, among others. Was plastered with the Taft logo during the '80s when they owned the company. If any of these films is ever shown or released on DVD, it's unknown if the logo will be preserved or a Paramount or Republic Pictures logo will plaster this one.

Editor's Note: None.