Turner Pictures

Background

Turner Pictures was founded by Turner Broadcasting in 1989 as their film production division, initially producing made-for-TV movies, then expanding to 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. Turner Pictures feature films were released through Warner Bros. Pictures in 1996 when Turner merged with Time Warner. Turner Pictures continues to operate under the name "TNT Originals, Inc.", producing TV movies. In 2001, Turner Broadcasting launched "Ted Turner Pictures", which financed Gods and Generals, its first theatrical film, though they have not produced another project since.

Turner Pictures

(1991-May 29, 1998)

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

Nicknames: "The House", "The Turner Mansion", "The Shadow"

Logo: 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 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 text reads "TURNER PICTURES WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION, INC." and the text turns yellow.
Another variant features the sans-serif text "WORLDWIDE" spaced out below "TURNER PICTURES".
There is a variant that was done for widescreen (2.35) films, where the 1.85 version is cropped to accommodate the scope format. This appeared on Fallen.

FX/SFX: The "shadow" and the words changing color. Produced by Jerry Lieberman Productions.

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

Music/Sounds Variants:

Sometimes it is silent or carries the film's opening theme.
It could also be higher pitched in PAL or SECAM regions.

Availability: Uncommon.

Seen only on some Turner movie productions, such as Gettysburg, Angus, Almost Heroes, Michael and Fallen, as well as older VHS copies of Which Way Home, Montana (1990), and Grand Isle.
It was originally seen on VHS prints of Tom and Jerry: The Movie plastering the Miramax Films logo, however most DVD releases and current prints go straight to the opening credits. However, a recent DVD print preserved the logo, which is also retained on a TV print shown in Australia.
The "Worldwide" variants can be seen on Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (TV and streaming prints only), Boomerang airings of Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, a Starz Encore airing of The Pagemaster, UK VHS releases of Turner material from First Independent Films, and a Bulgarian VHS of The Jetsons.

Ted Turner Pictures

(February 21, 2003)

Opening version
Closing version

Nickname: "The Signature"

Logo: On a black background, a set of blue lines resembling a globe zooms out. Suddenly, the lines start to move, transforming into a pictorial of a sailing boat. "Ted Turner", in Ted Turner's signature font, is written. When the writing is almost finished, a box showing the panorama of an ocean and a gold line below the handwriting fades in. The text "TED TURNER PICTURES" is formed by the letters joining one another. The box becomes solidified, shines, and the "boat" moves and makes a stop.

Variant: At the end of Gods and Generals, the logo is on a blue gradient background with a line to represent the horizon and a river shimmering below the box, which later turns solid. In this case, "TED TURNER PICTURES" is in white.

FX/SFX: The morphing of the globe, the "drawing effect", and the box zooming out.

Music/Sounds: A six note fanfare, with the last note held out.

Availability: Only seen on the 2003 movie Gods and Generals.