WCI Home Video

Background
WCI Home Video was originally formed in 1978 as Warner Video as a video subsidiary of Warner Communications to release titles on DiscoVision. It was expanded and renamed to the WCI Home Video (short for Warner Communications Inc.) label when it released 20 films on Betamax and Videocassette in 1979, and additional films, through the Warner Bros., First Artists and Orion Pictures labels, and it was distributed by Warner-Elektra-Atlantic. It was renamed in 1980 to Warner Home Video, although the WCI name continued to be used on-screen until 1981.

(June 1980-October 15, 1981)
Logo: We start out with a very big \\' logo (that is white with a blue "tube") that fills the entire screen. It then zooms back slightly. Then above the logo, the words "WCI HOME VIDEO" between two horizontal lines appear, followed by a much smaller \\' logo beside the byline "A Warner Communications Company". The logo fades from black after the standard FBI Warning Screen and has a more-grainy film-like quality to it. The \\' logo is slightly bigger than it is on the later version of the logo.

Trivia: The logo is derived from Warner Cable's logo, which was used as early as 1975-76. A still version exists at the end of all of the pilots of the Warner Cable game show How Do You Like Your Eggs? from 1977, which can be viewed here.

Technique: Cel animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare.
 * WCI's titles are hard to find and are upgraded to Warner Home Video's prints, as it was seen on VHS and Betamax titles from the period.
 * Early releases (from 1979-80) went straight from the warning screen to the movie with the Warner Bros., Orion, or First Artists logo in use at the time, and tapes that actually have this logo are long out of print. It first appeared on Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen, and would appear on all WCI releases beginning in the fall of 1980, including Every Which Way But Loose and Gilda Live.
 * The first WCI releases included Blazing Saddles, The Green Berets, The Wild Bunch, and Dirty Harry. Some WCI releases are also packaged in WHV packaging, with WHV labels during a short 1980 transitional period. Caddyshack, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Just Tell Me What You Want, Magnum Force, and The Great Santini are a few videos known to have this variation. Its last appearance was on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.