Savoy Pictures

Background
Savoy Pictures was a film distributor founded in 1992 by chairman and CEO Victor A. Kaufman. The studio was also co-ran by Lewis J. Korman. In 1995, it made a deal with Rysher Entertainment to co-produce several films and later in 1996 with New Line Cinema. In 1997, Savoy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed its doors after it was acquired by Barry Diller's HSN Inc. (now IAC). In 2006, the Savoy Pictures library was purchased by Universal Pictures through Focus Features.

(September 29, 1993-August 30, 1996; March 30, 1999)


Nicknames: "The Buffaloes", "The Herd", "The Stampede"

Logo: On a black background, there are white lines flying from the left side to the right side, and a herd of buffaloes are running through them. As they run, red lines draw a shape resembling two top to bottom lines and a rectangle in the middle to resemble a filmstrip. The buffaloes stop running, and "SAVOY PICTURES" in Baskerville font fades-in underneath.

Variant:
 * The closing variant of this logo is still.
 * On The Adventures of Pinocchio, the still version is seen at the beginning.
 * On a TV spot for No Escape, the logo cross-fades to Earth while the satellite is spinning around in space.

FX/SFX: The buffalo and lines, which are great animation.

Music/Sounds: A majestic orchestral fanfare. There are two variations of the theme; one of them is more synthesized and has a piano section, while the other is more "organic" and orchestral.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On Steal Big, Steal Little, a rumbling sound of buffaloes running and a guitar string tune are heard in the background.
 * On Tubi's print of My Teacher's Wife (released by Trimark in 1999 though produced by Savoy in 1994), the Trimark Pictures logo music is heard instead due to sloppy plastering.

Availability: Common. It can be seen on many movies on VHS and DVD, or when rerun on cable TV, such as Tales From the Hood, Serial Mom, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, No Escape (aka Escape from Absolom in other countries, while Columbia Pictures also distributed the film internationally), Last of the Dogmen, Destiny Turns on the Radio, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, A Bronx Tale, and The Stupids (the last film to have this logo). Some TV prints of films like White Man's Burden and Three Wishes would have those cut due to Rysher Entertainment owning the TV rights. Because of Universal Pictures owning the Savoy library, the 1997 logo precedes it. This was plastered by the Focus Features logo on the 2012 Universal DVD release and Spike TV (now Paramount Network) airings of A Bronx Tale. Don't expect to see this logo on A Simple Plan. It also popped up (after the 2006 Lionsgate logo) on TubiTV's print of My Teacher's Wife but with the Trimark Pictures music playing over it instead. This is retained on current prints of Three Wishes, after the 2003 Paramount Pictures logo and before Rysher Entertainment.

Editor's Note: This is a good logo, mainly because of the music.