ABC Motion Pictures

Background
ABC later returned to film production in May 1979 as ABC Motion Pictures. The studio's films were released by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. The studio would close down on October 29, 1985. Disney owns the rights to the library (as would 20th Century Fox in 2019). Disney has licensed the home media rights to Kino Lorber Films, after being previously licensed to Embassy Home Entertainment, Vestron Video, Image Entertainment, Anchor Bay, and MGM Home Entertainment, whose home media releases are distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

(October 29, 1982-June 6, 1986)
Logo: On a black background, we see some moving shots of sparkling transparent crystals. Then a crystal "T" slowly zooms backwards, and more letters are revealed. Finally, when the words...

ABC MOTION

PICTURES

all appear in sparkling crystal, the logo stops in the middle of the screen.

Trivia: The logo was designed by Universal Hartland Visual Effects in North Hollywood, which also created special effects work for the original Battlestar Galactica series. According to studio employee Kenneth A. Larson: "The letters were made from highly polished faceted jewel like glass crystal. They were glued to a plate of glass. No one know how to attach them without bubbles showing. A fellow employee came up with a solution and this logo was shot on a Hartland stage".

Technique: The sparkling crystals and company name zooming backward are very nice live-action shots.

Music/Sounds: A lush synth orchestral fanfare with twinkles. Sometimes it is silent. On some co-produced films, a more generic theme was used.

Availability: Rare. Was seen on films produced by the company, such as SpaceCamp, Prizzi's Honor, Young Doctors in Love, and the international cut of The Day After (which was released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment in the 1980s and laserdisc by Image Entertainment in 1995; the U.S. broadcast print was released by ABC's Summa Video label in 1995). Most releases of their films put out by Embassy Home Entertainment, Vestron Video and Anchor Bay Entertainment have this logo intact, but DVD releases by MGM have it removed and/or plastered with the 2001 MGM logo. This and the 1981 20th Century Fox logos are retained on Kino Lorber's Blu-ray releases of Prizzi's Honor, The Flamingo Kid, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Impulse, and Young Doctors in Love. This logo was also seen on international prints of some ABC TV movies, including Who Will Love My Children? and The Day After.