Turner Pictures

Not to be confused with Ted Turner Pictures.

Credits

Descriptions by
Lee Cremeans, Sean Beard, James Fabiano, Jess Williams and SBF2004

Captures by
BrerJake90, Logo Archive and DudeThatLogo

Editions by
UniversalFlorida1990 and Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
Michael Strum, Broken Saw, DudeThatLogo and ClosingLogosHD

Background

Turner Pictures was founded by Turner Broadcasting in 1989 as their film production division, initially producing made-for-TV movies such as Which Way Home, then expanding to theatrical features. Turner Pictures continued to produce films as an autonomous division alongside Turner Broadcasting's recently-purchased New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment. "Turner Pictures Worldwide Distribution, Inc." was also founded to handle international sales and distribution of Turner Pictures productions. With some exceptions, Turner Pictures feature films were released through New Line Cinema starting in 1993 and lasted until 1996, when Warner Bros. took over distribution from New Line after its parent company Time Warner purchased Turner that same year. Turner Pictures was retired after 1998, with Fallen and Almost Heroes being its final films, though the label continues to operate under the name "TNT Originals, Inc.", producing TV movies.

Logo (May 10, 1989-May 29, 1998)

• 
  Standard logo
• 
  Scope variant
• 
  "WORLDWIDE" variant
• 
  Superimposed "WORLDWIDE" variant
• 
  "WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION, INC." variant (B&W)
• 
  "WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION, INC." variant (color)
• 
  Israeli "WORLDWIDE" variant

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Visuals: A white outlined representation of a mansion stands on a black background. Underneath, in white are the words "TURNER PICTURES". The shadows against the house shift from right to left, and as that happens the words turn from white to brown.

Trivia: The mansion stands at the center of Turner Broadcasting's headquarters at its Techwood campus in Atlanta, Georgia. The building was once the home of the Progressive Club (a group consisting of members of Atlanta's Russian-Jewish community), before Ted Turner bought the complex for CNN and Superstation WTBS in the early 1980s.

Variants:

• On some international prints, the 1995 UK VHS release of A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994), the 1996 UK VHS releases of Hong Kong Phooey: Bumper Edition, and The Banana Splits: Bumper Special: Unpeeled, and the 1997 UK VHS releases of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Bumper Edition, Yogi Bear: Bumper Edition, Hanna Barbera: Crazy Christmas: Bumper Edition, Wacky Races: Bumper Edition: Dash to Delaware, and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: The Darkest Fathoms, the text reads "TURNER PICTURES WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION, INC." and also turns yellow.
• Another variant features the sans-serif text "WORLDWIDE" spaced out below "TURNER PICTURES".
  • An Israeli trailer for Andre has this logo green-tinted and squished to fullscreen.
• A variant that is done for widescreen (2.35) films exists, where the 1.85 version is cropped to accommodate the scope format. This appears on Fallen.

Technique: Traditional animation. Produced by Jerry Lieberman Productions.

Audio: A single, somber tone with birds chirping. When the shadow shifts to the left, a bell tolls.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, the logo is silent or carries the film's opening theme.

Availability:

• Seen on some Turner movie productions, such as Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Gettysburg, Angus, Almost Heroes, Michael and Fallen, as well as older VHS copies of Which Way Home, Montana (1990), and Grand Isle.
• It is also seen on VHS and international prints of Tom and Jerry: The Movie plastering the Miramax Films logo, however most DVD/VCD releases and current prints go straight to the opening credits instead.
  • However, a recent DVD print preserves the logo, which is also retained on a TV print shown in Australia.
• The "Worldwide" variants can be found on Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (TV and streaming prints only), Boomerang airings of Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! (1964), the 1995 UK VHS release and a Starz Encore airing of The Pagemaster (1994), UK VHS releases of Turner material from First Independent such as the 1995 UK VHS release of A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994), the 1996 UK VHS releases of Hong Kong Phooey: Bumper Edition, and The Banana Splits: Bumper Special: Unpeeled, the 1997 UK VHS releases of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!: Bumper Edition, Yogi Bear: Bumper Edition, Hanna Barbera: Crazy Christmas: Bumper Edition, Wacky Races: Bumper Edition: Dash to Delaware, and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: The Darkest Fathoms, and the Bulgarian VHS release of The Jetsons.
• The Israeli variant can be found on a trailer for Andre.

Turner Pictures

Warner Bros. Pictures TNT Originals ►