Sunn Classic Pictures

Credits

Descriptions by
Matt Williams, Eric S., and others

Captures 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.

1st Logo (November 13, 1974-1987)

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Nicknames: "The Sun", "The Solar Eclipse", "The Day of Black Sun"

Logo: On a zooming out space background, a black ball with flames erupting behind it (supposed to represent a stylized solar eclipse) zooms out slowly from the top right of the screen. As it moves to the center, the eclipse is covered up by a stylized sun drawing represented by a red-orange disc surrounded by a halo of white flames. "SUN" or "SUNN" on a bold font also is seen inside it. Below it, these words appear in a orange Helvetica font:

• 1974-1979: "SCHICK SUN CLASSIC PICTURES PRESENTS" or "SCHICK SUN CLASSIC PRODUCTIONS"
• 1975-1978: "SUNN CLASSIC PICTURES PRESENTS"
• 1978-1987: "SUN CLASSIC PICTURES"

Variants:

• In it's early years when it was owned by Schick, their name can be seen placed over "SUN(N)" in a yellow font.
• A short version used as a closing logo exists which cuts to the logo fading in.
• Another closing version has the logo already formed with the background still zooming.
• During 1978-1987, the sun is smaller and has a notable orange gradient on the flames.

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.

2nd Logo (1982)

Nicknames: "The Sun II", "The Raindrop Sun"

Logo: On a white background, 4 raindrop shapes in a orange gradient color are seen surrounding a yellow circle, with their ends curled inwards to give a perfect circular shape. This makes it resemble a stylized sun. Below the logo is the text "Sunn Classic Pictures" in a black font, and below that is a small Taft Entertainment byline.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct. Has been seen only on Laugh Trax so far, which hasn't been released on home media. It's unknown if it has appeared on any other shows.

Editor's Note: This logo's existence was only brought to light in 2019.