Wehrenberg Theatres

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Wehrenberg Theatres was a movie theater chain founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in the midwestern US. They operated 15 theaters in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota before being bought by Marcus Theatres in November 2016. Although most of their cinemas were converted into Marcus cinemas, their iconic crown logo can be spotted at many of Marcus' ex-Wehrenberg locations.

1st Logo (1995-2006)

Visuals: On a purple background, assorted crown jewels revolve around a cylindrical swirling pink light while the camera moves from left to right. As the camera then starts to move in a downward direction, a CGI film strip with synchronized images of a movie countdown enters into view from the left. The jewels spin up the light, and golden "WEHRENBERG" letters fly in from the right. The film strip leaves the camera's view from the upper portion of the screen, showing bright orbs. The words "ENTERTAINMENT" and "EXCELLENCE" scroll from bottom to top and right to left, respectively. A golden film reel appears, turning horizontally on its side while spinning and spitting out film reel. A crown is formed from the film reel with the jewels, and the words "FEATURE PRESENTATION" in white wrap around it from the right. The camera zooms out, revealing the words "WEHRENBERG" and "THEATRES" in a way that the former is on top of the latter. Two crowned "w" logos flash in at the end.

Trivia: The "Entertainment Excellence" motto used in this intro was reused in the 2006 version, along with the whispering voices.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A guitar riff, leading up to the 1994 version of Wehrenberg's familiar jingle with female vocals. The word "Wehrenberg" is constantly whispered near the end of it.

Availability: It may have still been used for a short time after the next intro debuted.

2nd Logo (2006-2017)


Visuals: The sequence starts on a sepia background, with a 1900's-style border. The text "Wehrenberg", in a translucent style, zooms in and fades out. A photo of Wehrenberg Theaters from 1911 shows up, with the text "1911" engraved on the photo. It later slides to the left to reveal another photo of Wehrenberg, this time from 1925. We suddenly zoom in with a bright blue flash of light. The light dims. We see 6 canes, a hat, and a filmreel, set on a blue-green gradient background. The background then turns green-black. We then see a black-and-white photo of a Plymouth car plus 2 men in 1930. The screen zooms in and see tapping shoes, as well as trumpets, set on a green-tinted 1930 photo of a stage theatre with the text "Cinderella" on it. Then we see 8 women taking their hats off for an acting pose. Then we fade to a purple-tinted background, with a red 50's-style car (A Chevrolet Bel Air), parked at "Ronnie's Drive-in Theatre". Right next to the car, we see "Admit One" tickets; one yellow, one orange. A 1999 photo of Wehrenberg's concession stand (from Wehrenberg's Ronnie's 20 theatre in Sappington, Missouri) flies in to the screen, with the famous Wehrenberg logo. Right next to that, we see the text "Ronnies 20 Cine" arranged in the same way as the sign seen in that location. "Ronnies" is seen in cursive, "20" is seen in a classic font, and "Cine" is seen in a plain Arial font. Another flash occurs, and the photo flies away. There is the famous Hollywood text, right behind a current-day Wehrenberg Theater (A Wehrenberg "Galaxy" theater, representative of either the Chesterfield or Cedar Rapids locations). Ahead of that, there is a Director's Chair and a lighting set. The WEHRENBERG text zooms in. Another flash occurs. The screen zooms out of a film projector. While that happens, the Fred's Drive-in, IMAX, Dolby Digital, and Wehrenberg Mega Screen logos zoom out, and the text "ENTERTAINMENT EXCELLENCE" fades in. Below that is the text "since 1906". The famous W zooms in and fades out. 2 more replicas zoom in, causing another flash. On a golden Wehrenberg filmreel background, the screen zooms out of the Wehrenberg crown. The W and 2 film-reels form the logo. The background fades out. Inside the film, "est. 1906" fades in. The "WEHRENBERG THEATRES" logo print wipes in, followed by "CELEBRATING OVER 100 YEARS". Finally, "FEATURE PRESENTATION" wipes over the centennial text.

Variants:

  • There was also a Coming Attractions bumper which was used alongside this intro.
  • Starting around 2015, the Five Star Lounge logo was added in-between the Fred's Drive-In and IMAX logos, and "CELEBRATING OVER 100 YEARS" has been removed, with only "FEATURE PRESENTATION" showing up in its place. The rest of the logo is still the same.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The music in the logo switches from early 1900s jazz to a dramatic, uplifting number with a choir.

Availability: It fell out of use in 2017 during the transition to Marcus Theatres branding.

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