Lionsgate Films

Background
Named after a Vancouver landmark, the Lions' Gate Bridge (officially known as the "First Narrows Bridge"), Lions Gate Films (trading as Lionsgate since 2005) is a North American film production/distribution studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with headquarters in Santa Monica, California. It was formed on January 12, 1998 when Cinépix Film Properties was renamed to this company. The company grew in 2000 with the purchase of Trimark Pictures and in 2003 with the purchase of Artisan Entertainment in order to become the largest mini-major distributors. In 2012, the company acquired Summit Entertainment. In 2015, the company bought out the live-action library of Hearst Entertainment and a year later, in 2016, the company had purchased Starz, including Anchor Bay Films, which was absorbed into Lionsgate.

1st Logo (January 1998-July 21, 2000)
Logo: On a black background, several stars join together at the right of the screen to form the constellation of the lion. As this happens, a stylized white drawing of a lion standing on its hind legs and looking to the right (in a heraldic "lion rampant" pose) fades in. "Serif" fades in the Bernhard Modern typeface, then "Serif" and "PRESENTS".

Variant: On the trailer for Buffalo '66, it doesn't have the word "PRESENTS".

Technique: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A majestic, ethereal synth theme coupled with whooshing and shining sounds.

Availability: Seen on films of the era such as Stardom, Metroland, Mr. Jealousy, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Also seen on the trailers for Buffalo '66. This last appeared on the teaser of The Rules of Attraction (the movie used the next logo).

2nd Logo (June 26, 1998-April 2, 2004)
Logo: Against a dark blue starfield background, several stars swirl around to form the lion logo from before, which zooms out. Some more stars that turn from white to zoom out and arrange themselves on the logo, and the words "Serif" (with "Serif" in Garamond) flash in at the top right of the lion. A burst of light wipes in a white line with the byline "A LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" underneath it. The words sparkle a bit.

Variants:
 * This logo exists in filmed and videotaped forms.
 * Billed as "FILMS LIONS GATE" on French-Canadian releases.
 * On an international video trailer for Perfume, "INTERNATIONAL" is placed in between "FILMS" and the byline.
 * Starting in 2003, "AMEX: LGF" ("American Stock Exchange: Lions Gate Films") appears underneath the byline.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo. Sometimes, it is silent or has the film's opening theme.

Availability: Common. Seen on films produced by Lions Gate from the period. It appears on some early Lions Gate and late period Artisan/Trimark DVD releases as a de facto home video logo as well; some examples of this include the two-disc edition of Step Into Liquid and a reprint of All of Me. The AMEX variant appears on later films such as Wonderland. It makes a surprise appearance at the end of the TV movie Student Seduction.

3rd Logo (April 16, 2004-March 11, 2006)
Logo: Against a dark sky with clouds and thunder, the letters "Impact", followed by "Serif" below, appear in a "flashing" effect. It zooms forth, and the Lions Gate byline from before gets wiped in from left to right.

Variants:
 * On some films, the logo is tinted.
 * A print logo is used at the end of many films (same type for the previous logo).
 * On the 2004 TV movie Frankenstein, a short version of this logo is used, beginning with the byline wiping.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: Usually silent, but some films use thunderclap sounds with the sound of a sword being drawn and hitting another sword.

Availability: Uncommon.
 * Can be seen on films such as The Punisher, A Love Song for Bobby Long, Crash (not to be confused with the 1996 erotic thriller starring James Spader and Holly Hunter), the English version of the French film High Tension, the 2006 film Minotaur, and the first two Saw films (recent prints of the second film however, plaster this with the horror version of the 5th logo).
 * This also plasters the Kings Road Entertainment logo on the current releases of Kickboxer III: The Art of War (including the double feature DVD release with Kickboxer IV), and the Trimark Pictures logo on the 2005 "This is a Special Edition You Schmuck" DVD of Swimming with Sharks.

4th Logo (August 26-November 23, 2005)
Logo: We see the logo from before, as a spotlight passes on the background. Suddenly, the words turn into the aforementioned color, while the background fades to black as it zooms in. Then a light streak draws the same byline as the previous logo.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: First we hear a whoosh, then vibration sounds, and finally the streak drawing.

Availability: Extremely rare, as this was only used for a very short time. Can be found on In the Mix (not to be confused with the PBS series of the same name), and Undiscovered. Also seen on current prints of Love and a .45 (1994) and some older prints of Pi (1998).

5th Logo (February 24, 2006-April 26, 2013)
Logo: We fade in close to several gears and zoom out to a view of them rotating in a large Art Deco-inspired chamber. The camera then zooms all the way back and out through a keyhole, revealing an enormous pair of doors, with the company's "lion rampant" logo on both of them (intended to evoke its heraldry-inspired appearance) and a geometric pattern as well. The doors open and we see the name "LIONSGATE", now written as one word and with a metallic texture, over a heavenly sky background with clouds surrounding it.

Closing Title: Just the Lionsgate print logo, often scrolling with the credits, or still.

Variants:
 * There is a version which appears on horror and action films (basically, wherever a "rugged" appearance is desired), where the gears and doors are rusted, and the "LIONSGATE" text appears over a hellish sky, showing more wear than it does in the standard version. This version is known as "Lionsgate Horror".
 * On current prints of Star Kid, the logo plasters the Trimark Pictures logo and is sped up to accommodate the length of the original logo. The film's opening music is left intact.
 * A shorter version starting from the zoom out through the keyhole exists.
 * An extremely rare variant is known to exist where the animation plays as normal, but towards the end of the orchestration the logo begins to shrink. We zoom out to find it is the "H" in the THX logo, which moves into the bottom left corner a few seconds later, which leads directly into the menu.

Technique: CGI by Devastudios (who would go on to animate the current logos for Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures).

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare with brass and string instruments and drums (which takes cues from Danny Elfman's Batman theme) for the standard version. The horror version has the sounds of the gears cranking and door creaking, alongside sounds resembling a heartbeat and moaning.

Music/Sounds Trivia: The Horror variant was composed and sound designed by Billy Mallery, who also did the opening titles of Caged, as well as the music for the next logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * The short version uses mechanical noises.
 * On rare occasions, the film's opening/closing theme plays over the logo.
 * On Syfy airings of Leprechaun 2, the Trimark Pictures theme was heard over the first half of the logo, and the Lionsgate theme played over the second half of the logo, possibly due to an editing error or cheap plastering.
 * The THX variant directly fades the end of the Lionsgate theme into the second half of the THX "Deep Note" (more specifically the 2005 "Science of Sensation" version), which includes the whoosh from that logo before fading out early.
 * On prints of King Kobra, the music was reorchestrated with no whoosh effects to it and less drum beats from the final version.

Availability: Common.
 * Was first unveiled on the company's website in late October 2005, and officially debuted on Madea's Family Reunion on February 24. 2006. It made its last appearance on The Big Wedding.
 * The horror version can be seen on the Saw films starting with Saw III and ending with Saw 3D, (as well as recent prints of II), The Descent, and action films such as The Expendables, among others. The short version was seen at the beginning of one of the Marvel DTV features, The Invincible Iron Man. This version was last seen on Texas Chainsaw 3D.
 * It also plasters other companies' logos on their titles released by Lionsgate, such as films formerly distributed by Trimark Pictures or Artisan Entertainment. At some cases of plastering older logos on horror movies (like The Blair Witch Project and Leprechaun sequels), the normal version appears instead of the preferred horror one.
 * It was also used as a de-facto home video logo on DVD and Blu-ray releases by Lionsgate Home Entertainment and Lionsgate Family Entertainment (the former Family Home Entertainment) until mid-2013.
 * The variant fading into the THX logo is extremely rare, and is only known to exist on the 2006 THX Optimum Resolution DVDs; which include Total Recall (1990), The King of New York, Stargate, and Belly.

Legacy: Well-regarded by the logo community for its creative usage for its gears motif.

6th Logo (April 14, 2013-)
Logo: We see the horizon of the Earth surrounded by clouds as it zooms away from us. Stars fly past us as they form a lion constellation based on the first two logos. As soon as the constellation forms, it is seen reflected on the "S" of the company name in 3D lettering as the word flies past through the clouds from the fifth logo. A light shines through the "S" and "G" as the name is revealed in a deep blue color. The clouds swoop away, leaving only the light behind the logo on a deep blue background.

Closing Titles:
 * Same as the previous logo.
 * Sometimes, a still version of the opening logo with the clouds is used. A zoomed out version also exists.

Variants:
 * An open matte version exists. This could be seen on 4:3 films with this logo.
 * On Wonder, the logo's animation is slightly sped-up near the end.
 * Current prints of Trimark Pictures films from 1990 to 1994, sometimes has the text "A DIVISION OF VIDMARK INC." after the logo, which is likely mistakened to be a plastering error instead of having a parent company.

Technique: More CGI from Devastudios.

Music/Sounds: A triumphant orchestral and choir fanfare. This was composed by Billy Mallery and Jason Johnson and performed by the Seattle Symphony and Choir. A video showing the rehearsal of the fanfare can be shown on Billy's Facebook page here.

Music/Sounds Trivia: Billy's work for the fanfare won him a Silver Award for Outstanding Original Music in the 2013 Mobius Awards, as well as a nomination for Best Song/Score in a Special Feature in the 2014 HMMA (Hollywood Music In Media) Awards.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * A low-pitched version of the fanfare exists.
 * On current prints of the 1989 TV movie Get Smart, Again!, it has the finishing of the ending theme, then the theme from the 1985 King Features Entertainment logo is heard, most likely due to sloppy plastering.
 * In some cases, it's silent or has the opening theme of the movie.
 * On current prints of some Weinstein Company films, we hear a few seconds of silence followed by the theme from that company's logo due to sloppy plastering (in some of these cases, the film's opening score/narration begins near the end of the fanfare, so seamless removal would be tough).

Availability: Current.
 * First seen on the teaser for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The full logo debuted on the wide release of Mud (the TIFF release had the previous logo), and can be seen on newer Lionsgate films released after that.
 * This logo is absent from Nickelodeon broadcasts of Shaun the Sheep Movie, but Lionsgate is still mentioned in the opening credits.
 * This also appears at the beginning on some PolyGram films, such as King of the Mountain.
 * This has also began plastering over The Weinstein Company logo and the Dimension Films logo on certain titles that Lionsgate currently co-distributes alongside Lantern Entertainment. Some others that Lionsgate produced keep those logos intact.
 * This is also used as a de-facto home video logo on LGHE and LGFE (and starting in 2017, ex-Anchor Bay titles as well as on DVDs of Starz programs released by Lionsgate, the Starz Originals logo shows up after the DVD menu) releases since mid-2013.