Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (Warning Screens)

North American Warnings

1st Warning (1978-Early 1980s)

Warning: On a dark screen, we see the following words in yellow:

NOTICE: "LICENSED ONLY FOR NON-COMMERCIAL PRIVATE EXHIBITION IN HOMES. ALL RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT RESERVED"

Variant: The words may be in a more narrow font and less compressed on some films.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: This technically wasn't used on home media, but was used on Disney’s souvenir videos used on the mm digests.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Warning (1980-Late 1983)

Standard Warnings

Alternative Warnings (Canadian releases only)

Optional Licensed/Duplication Screen (Canadian releases only)

Warning: On a blue background, we see the letters “FBI" in a black rectangle. The seal of said company is below the letters. Above and to the right is the word "WARNING" in a yellow color, and below that is the white warning text.

The screen fades to a blue background with the following text in yellow:

Licensed for private home exhibition only. Any public performance, copying or other use is strictly prohibited. All other rights reserved.

Variants:

A rare variant exists, where the screens are reversed.
Canadian French releases from Quebec use the variation below, but is translated into French. There is also black shadow on the text.
Canadian copies replace the FBI screen with a third screen similar to the second, except in a Helvetica font. This variation is put before the standard warning text:

Duplication in whole or in part of this videocassette is prohibited.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, which all these FBI warnings are famous for.

Availability: This was the second-to-first warning used on home media (the first was 20th Century Fox’s 1978 Warning). Appears on releases from 1980-1983, such as The Black Hole, Pete's Dragon, and Escape to Witch Mountain.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Warning (Late 1983-July 15, 1984)

Warning: On a poppy red background, we see a black box with the letters "FBI" and the FBI logo below that. To the right of it is a white box with the text shown above. This warning is almost the same as the 1979 warning screen from Warner Home Video. The screen then fades to the same blue "Licensed" screen mentioned above.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds:None.

Availability: Seen on releases from late 1983 to mid to late 1984 (excluding Canadian copies) such as Tex, Condorman and later printings of Tron. It can be also be spotted on a few Muppet Home Video releases (as they were distributed by Disney) like Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. Its last appearances were on The Castaway Cowboy and Son of Flubber.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Warning (July 15, 1984-1991)

Standard Versions

Serif Font Variation

"Walt Disney World" promotional videos variant

"Rainbow" Background Variant (Walt Disney Educational Productions)

Optional Licensed/Duplication Screen (Canadian releases only)

Spanish-Translated Screens

Warning: On a white background, we see a red-orange vertical bar at the left of the screen containing the white text "FBI" and a white FBI logo below that. At the right of the bar, in the Exotic Bold font, is the standard FBI Warning text seen in 1 and 2. Each screen lasts about eight seconds before fading out.

Variants:

Some releases in 1990-1991 would have all of the text in a Goudy Old Style font.
Walt Disney World videos had all of the text in a different sans serif font. The warning text beside the FBI logo is black instead of the usual red. Also, the phrase "ANY PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, COPYING OR OTHER USE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED." is included in both screens.
On some releases, the first screen would cut straight to the next, rather than fading out.
There is a variant in which the second screen fades in to a red background, and the text fading in after that. This version has text that looks chyroned in.
On Canadian releases only, there is a variant in which the warning text fades to red, and then the Duplication notice fades in. This version has chyroned text.
There is a special "rainbow" variant on videos from Walt Disney Educational Productions in the 1980s. Despite its nickname, however, the background is actually a lavender/prawn gradient.
There is an early "protoype" variation with different, longer sentences.
On the 1991 release of Fantasia, the length of time each warning is on screen is cut in half, making it four seconds instead of the usual eight.
A 1988 VHS of Alice in Wonderland had the first warning screen slideshow to the next, a la the next warning.
On extremely rare occasions, the red area will be yellow instead.
On Spanish-translated releases, the setup is similar, but on the first screen, the text (translated into Spanish) and the FBI text and logo are surrounded by a rounded rectangle. The second screen has the text in a MUCH smaller size, and appears to have serifs.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on releases from mid/late 1984 to 1991, like Winnie the Pooh and Friends, DuckTales VHS releases, and Robin Hood. It first appeared on Welcome to Pooh Corner Vol. 1 and Five Mile Creek Vol. 1. It can also be seen on 1985-1991 Touchstone Home Video releases as well. The version with the Goudy Old Style font was seen only on a few WDHV releases from 1991 (including the reprint of Disney's Sing-Along Songs: You Can Fly, Sebastian's Caribbean Jamboree, and compilations of episodes of the television series Dinosaurs). The one with the different font than the standard (which slideshows) can be seen on old 80s Walt Disney World promotional videos. The one with the font that fades in after the background is extremely rare, and can be seen on the original release of The Brave Little Toaster, the 1991 Canadian VHS print of The Rescuers Down Under, and the Mini-Classics release of Peter and the Wolf. The one which slideshows can be spotted on the 1988 American print of Alice in Wonderland. The prototype variation is rare, but can be spotted on the original 1984 prints of Splash and Mickey's Christmas Carol. The Spanish-translated variant has been spotted on a 1986 Spanish VHS of Mary Poppins. Palladium Books tapes used the first screen.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Warning (August 19, 1986-Summer 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991)

Standard Version

Optional Licensed/Duplication Screen (Canadian releases only)

Spanish-Translated Screens

Warning: On a dark red background, we see a rounded rectangle with FBI and its logo on the side and the standard-issue warning on the other (which is very similar to the Spanish version of the previous warning). Then it slideshows to the next screen, whose words are in a bold Helvetica font.

Variants:

On Canadian copies only, the warning screen would slideshow to the Duplication notice. On Canadian French copies, the warnings are translated to French, and like its English counterpart, it follows the same format. Unlike the regular warnings, the text for the French Canadian copies was in mixed case. This warning was used up until 1991 on Disney videos released in Quebec.
On American Spanish-language copies, all text is translated to Spanish, the rounded rectangle is gone, leaving only the rectangle containing FBI and its logo, and the transition is a fade to and then from red instead of a slideshow cut.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare. It can be found on the original Classics print of Sleeping Beauty (either VHS or Laserdisc), as well as the 1986 Classics reprint of Pinocchio and an early 1987 print of The Three Caballeros. It can also be seen on most 1986 Disney tapes (your best bet are ones that also have the Video Dealer Announcement on them, such as A Tiger Walks, and the first video releases of Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore). This was also found on American copies of Ruthless People, while Canadian copies use the previous warning screen (with the Video Dealer Announcement intact on both versions). For some reason, this was surprisingly spotted on a 1990 Canadian copy of Turner and Hooch and demo tapes of Big Business, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Mr. Destiny, The Jungle Book (1991 release), and The Rescuers Down Under. The Video Dealer Announcement was omitted on the original VHS/Beta release of Disney Sing-Along Songs: Heigh-Ho (later pre-1990 printings omitted the warning screens entirely), Mickey's Christmas Carol, the first five Walt Disney Cartoon Classics volumes, and Bell & Howell/Columbia Pictures/Paramount Video Services pressings of Mickey Knows Best, The Importance of Being Donald, and Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. The Spanish variant appeared on the Spanish-dubbed tapes of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

Editor's Note: None.

6th Warning (September 7, 1991-May 16, 2000 (regular use), 2010? (overall))

Original Variant (1991-1997)

Early DVD Variant (1997)

Revised and Modified Variants (1997-2000)

Optional Licensed/Duplication Screen (Canadian and DVD releases only)

Warning: Same as warning screen 5, except the background is grass green and the words are bolder and are in decidedly different fonts and positioning. In late 1997, the fonts were revised and the second screen was rephrased, replacing "LICENSED FOR PRIVATE HOME EXHIBITION ONLY" with "THIS VIDEOCASSETTE (or DVD or LASERDISC) IS FOR PRIVATE HOME VIEWING ONLY. IT IS NOT LICENSED FOR ANY OTHER USE." The fade in on this second variant is also faster.

Variants:

A Spanish translation is used on Spanish copies. The first screen now has square edges instead of rounded edges.
The word "VIDEOCASSETTE" or "DVD" may be replaced with "VHS OR DVD".
There is also a rare DVD variant of the 1991 warning screens, where the FBI seal is a bit bolder, and the text on the second screen appears to be farther spaced out.
On 1998-2000 DVD releases, the 1997 warning screens slideshow.
On rare occasions, the background is blue instead of green. This can be found on the Old McDonald's Sing-a-Long Farm tape "Share & Care Alike", and on some rare 1995 copies of VeggieTales: Are You My Neighbor?.
On the DVS VHS printing of Old Yeller, a woman says at the beginning, "A warning appears..." then reads the text on the screen except for the bottom text because it fades to the next screen she also reads before she could finish with the first screen. This also happens on the DVS VHS of Anne of Avonlea, but with a man saying at the beginning, "Now, an FBI Warning appears..." and reading the text in both screens.
On a 1992 print of Sister Act, the second warning screen abruptly cuts to the Touchstone Home Video logo.
On French-Canadian releases, the last warning is used, but the background color is changed to match and the text has a shadow effect. It was updated in 1995 with the font changed to that of the format screen of the time. This also appears on some US DVDs as well.
On both versions of the Beauty and the Beast VHS from 1992, the length of each screen is again cut in half like the Fantasia VHS. Each screen shows up for only five seconds instead of the usual ten.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: On almost every Walt Disney Home Video release (standard, Classic, or Masterpiece) from the 90s. Can be spotted on any Buena Vista Home Video, Miramax, DiC Toon-Time Video, Touchstone Pictures, or ABC Video releases from the 90s, too. Also seen on NCircle/DiC DVD releases. The DVD variant of the 1991 FBI screens can be found on the earliest Disney DVDs from 1997 and early 1998, such as Air Bud, George of The Jungle, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, Tombstone, and a few others. It can also be seen on tapes from a few non-Disney/Buena Vista companies, like VCI videos from the late 90s (which only showed the first screen), and tapes from Everland/Word Entertainment. Strangely, it also appeared on DVD prints of Baby Einstein videos from 2000 to 2002 (despite them being owned by Family Home Entertainment at the time) and appeared on Anchor Bay Entertainment releases of Disney films such as Big Red and The Cat from Outer Space (VHS releases of these films use Anchor Bay's standard warning). Don't expect to find this on DVD prints from DiC and Shout Factory. They use Shout! Factory’s own warning screen. Surprisingly, this appears as a box on a white background at the start of the 2015 documentary Strange Matters. While Disney stopped using this warning on a regular basis at the end of the spring of 2000, some companies have adopted it for their own use: DiC Home Entertainment releases used the 1997 warnings, as did Cookie Jar DVDs, which have known to be released as late as 2010. The 1997 warnings were also used on VHS releases from Anime Village Home Entertainment and early Bandai Entertainment VHS releases (in which the first screen would slideshow to the next). Strangely, the Duplication screen, while mainly on Canadian releases, appears on quite a few DVDs from the United States, including What About Bob?, The Three Musketeers, and even Tarzan; among others.

Editor's Note: This is probably one of, if not the most recognizable of FBI warnings; as a result it is occasionally parodied (such as the 2002 Deluxe Edition DVD of Men in Black, which had a parody of this screen after Sony's warnings right before the menu).

7th Warning (1991-Early 2000s)

Warning: An enhanced version of the 1984 warning. On a blue background, we see a red vertical bar at the left of the screen containing the white text "FBI" in bold and a colored FBI logo below that. At the right of the bar, in the Times New Roman font, is the standard FBI Warning text seen in 2 and 4.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare; seen on 1990s Walt Disney Educational Productions tapes, as well as Bill Nye the Science Guy DVDs from WDEP.

Editor's Note: None.

8th Warning (May 30, 2000-October 2005)

Full screen FBI warning
Widescreen FBI warning
Widescreen FBI warning (Unbreakable variant)
VHS copyright notices
DVD copyright notices (early variant)
DVD copyright notices (Unbreakable variant)
16:9 DVD copyright notices (early variant)
Copyright notices (later variant)
Early Blu-ray variant

Warning: Same as Warning Screens 4 and 5, but it now takes place on a blue background, with the warning text and the second screen now in mixed case; the second screen also includes the duplication warning (previously exclusive to Canadian releases). On DVDs, the FBI Warning would cut right to the second screen instead of fading to black to the second screen, and the word "DVD" replaces "Videocassette". In the late summer of 2003, the second screen was modified to include more info. (which co-existed with the original version until March 2004.)

Variants:

A Spanish translation is used on Spanish-language tapes.
On all Canadian VHS releases, it skips to the second screen. The first screen is intact on Canadian DVD releases.
On the Jeffery Blitz documentary Spellbound released on DVD, the first part of the warning screen fades in and fades out before the TH!INKFilm logo. A little bit of the vertical FOV was also decreased cropping off some of the black from the top and the blue from the bottom.
French-Canadian releases are translated into French.
The original DVD version of the first screen is present on the 2005 DVD of Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys, despite the later version with more text already being in use for well over a year by then (including on its own VHS).
A stretched version of the second screen exists on the 2001 Vista Series DVD of Unbreakable, along with a slightly modified FBI warning following it (which is shattered apart).
Blu-ray releases prior to 2011 have the second screen in a different font and without a drop shadow.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: It first appeared on the 2000 VHS of Geppetto. It appears on all Disney/Buena Vista Video/DVD releases from this era. Outside of Disney releases, it appeared on the ThinkFilm DVD release of Spellbound distributed by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment (now Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) and on some First Look VHS releases (which only show the first screen) and DVDs starting in 2005 (which only show the second screen). It also appeared on the 2005 VHS of Herbie: Fully Loaded, released on October 25, 2005, despite the fact that the DVD uses the 9th warning. Even after the first screen retired, the second screen first used in 2003 is still in use today on Disney DVDs until late 2020, with its final appearances on Onward and Downhill, both released on May 19, 2020.

Editor's Note: Like the 6th warning, this is one of the most recognizable FBI warnings.

9th Warning (April 26, 2005-2013)

Warning: The same generic warning screen used since 2004 with a modified font. This came after the second screen of the 8th warning.

Variant: On the 2005 VHS of Sky High and the special edition VHS of Tarzan, the warnings are played in reverse order.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Found on most Disney/Buena Vista releases from 2005-2013 beginning with Dimension's 2005 DVDs of Darkness (also on its VHS) and The Nameless, released April 26, 2005. This includes the final releases on VHS from the company up to Bambi II, released on February 7, 2006. However, Blu-ray releases had this warning until 2011. Strangely, the Disney Movie Club-exclusive VHS releases of Valiant, the Platinum Edition of Lady and the Tramp, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Brother Bear 2, Cars, Chicken Little, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest use no warning screen at all.

Editor's Note: None.

10th Warning (2011-present)

Warning: For the first screen of the 10th warning, on a black background, we see the word "WARNING" at the top of the screen, in red, with the same warning text from the 2003 version of the second screen of the 8th warning, in white.

Variant: On early Blu-ray releases pre-2013, the first screen is followed by an Anti-Piracy warning screen, which has the text "ANTI-PIRACY WARNING" in red with different text below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: On most Disney/Buena Vista Blu-ray releases from this era. Since late 2020, it also appears on DVDs, due to the retirement of the 8th warning.

Editor's Note: None. Final Note: They started using universal's warning in 2013.

International Warnings

United Kingdom

1st Warning (1983-1987)

Warning: On a medium blue background, we have the following text in a white font:

"THIS MOTION PICTURE, INCLUDING ITS SOUND TRACK, IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND ANY BROADCAST, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, DIFFUSION, COPYING AND EDITING ARE PROHIBITED UNLESS EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED. THIS CASSETTE IS FOR HOME USE ONLY."

FX/SFX: None, unless you count the fading-in of the videotaped version.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare. This was not seen on many releases but the videotaped version was found to have appeared on Return to Oz and the filmed version was seen on Dragonslayer and Hunters Landing. The first four Touchstone releases in the UK, Splash, Country, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend and My Science Project should all have this.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Warning (1987-1990)

Warning: On a dark blue background, we see white text reading:

THIS MOTION PICTURE, INCLUDING ITS SOUND TRACK, IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND ANY BROADCAST, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, DIFFUSION, COPYING AND EDITING ARE PROHIBITED UNLESS EXPRESSLY AUTHORISED. THIS CASSETTE IS FOR HOME USE ONLY.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Appears on various Disney and Touchstone videos from the United Kingdom. In the early years of this warning, Disney tapes were distributed through Rank Video. On Disney releases, it can be seen on the first few Sing Along Songs videos as well as later printings of Tron, Popeye, The Sword in the Stone, Blackbeard's Ghost and some tapes of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Touchstone tapes with this included Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Tin Men, and Good Morning Vietnam.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Warning (1990-2006)

Warning: On a dark blue background, we see white text reading:

'THIS MOTION PICTURE, INCLUDING ITS SOUND TRACK, IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND ANY BROADCAST, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, DIFFUSION, COPYING AND EDITING ARE PROHIBITED UNLESS EXPRESSLY AUTHORISED. THIS CASSETTE IS FOR HOME USE ONLY.'

Variants: The font has changed throughout the years.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Appears on Disney, Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax and Dimension tapes from the United Kingdom. Titles with this warning range from ten early titles, such as The Rescuers, Run, Filofax (Taking Care of Business), The Little Mermaid, Pretty Woman, Sister Act, The Rocketeer, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Three Men and a Little Lady, Arachnophobia and Paradise to twelve later titles, such as Monsters, Inc., Gone in 60 Seconds, The Royal Tenenbaums, Chicago, Signs, Reign of Fire, Snow Dogs, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, The Ladykillers, Finding Nemo, Home on the Range, and The Incredibles. It altogether appeared on thousands of Buena Vista videos from the timeframe given above in various fonts, including some of their most popular releases.

Editor's Note: None.