StudioCanal

Background
StudioCanal (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+ until 1999) is the film production and distribution unit of French premium television channel Canal+. It was founded in 1988 by Canal+ president Pierre Lescure as a spin-off of the pay-TV network; its original function was to focus on French and European productions, but later made strategic deals with American production companies. Over the years, the studio acquired the film libraries of other studios that either became defunct or had merged with it. As a result, StudioCanal now owns the third largest film library in the world with over 6,000 titles, only behind Warner Bros. and MGM. The library includes titles from Carolco Pictures, Avco Embassy Pictures, and Lumiere, among others.

1st Logo (March 20, 1992-March 9, 1994)
Logo: Inserted into the end credits of a film (instituting that it's a print logo), we see "LE STUDIO" in a large font. Inside it is the Canal+ logo, which is the name of the network in an italic form. The plus sign is inside the "O" of "STUDIO".

Variants:
 * The logo is often seen inside a white rectangle with "LE STUDIO" in and the "CANAL+" in black. An animated variant starts with the rectangle fading in, then 3 copies of "LE STUDIO" in, , and yellow flying into the rectangle, then combining and turning . "CANAL+" then fades in. Then the logo fades out and "PRESENTE" in white fades in.
 * On Chaplin, the logo is seen next to the Carolco logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None on the still version. The animated version has a fanfare with 4 deep synth notes and a choir, piano notes playing as the copies of "LE STUDIO" fly into the rectangle, and a cymbal hit once "CANAL+" fades in.

Availability: Rare. Appears on Basic Instinct, The City of Fear, and Chaplin.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1996-1999)


Logo: Same as the Canal+ Video logo (which is based on the Canal+ feature presentation ident of the time), but the Canal+ logo is replaced with a black bar. In the end, the words "LE STUDIO" and "CANAL+" are seen in the center, with "LE STUDIO" moved to the left. The square is to the left of "CANAL+".

FX/SFX: Same as the Canal+ Video logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Canal+ Video logo.

Availability: Extremely rare. Was spotted on a 1999 French VHS of Scream 2 and a 2000 French VHS of Jeu Mortel.

Editor's Note: None.

1st Logo (April 21, 2000)


Nickname: "Sliding Doors"

Logo: On a black background, we see two connected rectangles, one, the other light blue, both sliding from the center of the screen like a mirror image. The rectangle reads "STUDIO" and the light blue one reads "CANAL"; both texts are in white. The logo and font look similar to the one used for its parent company Canal+.

FX/SFX: The rectangles sliding in. Very simple animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Was only seen on U-571.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 28, 2000-January 10, 2003)
Nicknames: "Tribal Visions", "Acid Trip", "HYYYYD-BA!!!"

Logo: A comet flies across a very dark blue sky, with a few intermittent stars (a homage to the Canal+ feature presentation ident at the time). As the comet passes over the screen, small stars start to flash and random numbers begin to appear in place of the flashes. A lightning bolt strikes from the right side of the screen into the middle of the screen. The numbers disappear and a circular burst of "rain" appears. Large white circles of varying sizes pop up over the screen and disappear almost instantaneously. Another lightning bolt hits. The source of the "rain" switches to the right side of the screen. The rain stops and white lines begin to appear all over the screen (once again disappearing instantly) as the letters for "STUDIO CANAL" appear haphazardly across the screen. A shooting star and a lightning bolt appear at the same time. Rain starts coming from all sides of the screen, as well as small white circles floating upwards. Sparkles of light encompass the screen, culminating in a white flash. The same logo from the previous logo, only the box for "STUDIO" is black, appears, surrounded by light streaks. Finally the text "A CANAL+ COMPANY" appears on the bottom right of "CANAL".

FX/SFX: Complex 2D animation with some CG elements. It seems like it's trying too hard, but it's otherwise a feast for the eyes.

Music/Sounds: First, a zap sound is heard when the comet flies by, then a tribal hymn heavy on thunderous percussion, with a female operatic singer marking the appearance of the company name, and a strange primal scream at the white flash. A brief bongo tap is also heard to mark the appearance of "A CANAL+ COMPANY".

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * A version with more sound effects exists.
 * The 2002 Anchor Bay DVD of Highlander uses this logo, but on the audio commentary track, you can faintly hear the jingle of Lumiere Pictures' 2nd logo as this logo plays. This is because the commentary was taken from the 1996 Republic LaserDisc of the movie.

Availability: Uncommon. Not many films used this logo, but it's still not too hard to find.
 * Appears on films like Billy Elliot (the US release), Bridget Jones's Diary and 40 Days and 40 Nights.
 * Also appears on most international television and DVD prints of Avco Embassy (though TV rights to those films are with Sony), Lumiere, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Thorn-EMI Screen Entertainment, Carolco, De Laurentiis, American Zoetrope, Touchstone Pictures, and Nelson Entertainment films, such as HDNet Movies' prints of Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Claw.
 * It appears on DVD prints of the company library from this era through licensed distributors (such as Anchor Bay Entertainment), such as The Criterion Collection's Day of the Dolphin. Was also seen on the 2001 French VHS of Traffic as a de-facto home video logo.
 * This also appears on Paramount/Trifecta syndicated prints of Narrow Margin, before the Tristar and Carolco logos.

Editor's Note: Thanks to the unexpected sound effects, startling visuals, and the very bizarre nature overall, this logo can make some uncomfortable, but it's a logo that grows on you. It might also annoy some people due to this plastering old logos. If you are new to StudioCanal, you wouldn't be expecting this logo, despite the title.

3rd Logo (February 20, 2003-August 23, 2011)
Nicknames: "The Flight", "StudioCanal in the Clouds"

Logo: A thin rectangle with an image of clouds inside appears in the center of a black background, and slowly grows so that it takes up the whole screen. The camera flies through the clouds, and, after a few seconds, the StudioCanal logo appears, and the surrounding area fades to black.

Variants:
 * There is a black and white version to fit with such films of this type. Found on recent prints of The Farmer's Wife and The Elephant Man (sans Encore's prints), as well as other old black-and-white films (most commonly in French New Wave films).
 * On Small HD widescreen versions of Love Actually (2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), the logo is cropped to 16:9 widescreen.
 * The shorter version starts in the clouds. Found on Inland Empire and the Canadian & US releases of Franklin and the Turtle Lake Adventure, as well as the 2003 DVD and VHS releases of Stargate.

FX/SFX: The CGI clouds. Not as busy as its predecessor.

Music/Sounds: Faint unintelligible whispers, followed by a whimsical-sounding fanfare, the widgets cranking, accompanied by various sound effects (e.g. a camera lens adjusting, wooden creaks, and bird chirps, sometimes louder). Sometimes it's silent, or the opening theme of the film plays.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On Love Actually (2003), the faint whisper comes in late and cut off before the fanfare appears, this time with the various sound effects intact.
 * On Thunderbirds (2004), the faint whisper plays twice and while the fanfare plays, the various sound effects play twice.
 * On Johnny English (2003) and Wimbledon and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (both 2004), the tail end of the 1997 Universal Pictures logo's music plays alongside the faint whispers before the fanfare appears, this time with the various sound effects intact.

Availability: Common, given its longevity of eight whole years.
 * Appears on films like Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Babies, Thunderbirds, and Genesis, among others.
 * Like the previous logo, it also appears on television and DVD prints of films from the previously mentioned companies' libraries. It plasters the TriStar and Carolco logos on the Blu-ray release of Angel Heart.
 * It is also used as a de-facto home video logo in France.

Editor's Note: It's not as strange as the last logo, but the odd fanfare may get to some. Like the previous logo, it plastering old logos may annoy some.

4th Logo (September 5, 2011-)
Nickname: "The Glass"

Logo: In a live-action black environment, we see several revolving rectangular glass panels in a letterboxed format, with brightly-colored lights shining through it. There are reflections of StudioCanal's new logo ("STUDIOCANAL" in Futura MD BT, all upright and with the "O" and "C" connected, inside a black rectangle with the top-left and bottom-right corners rounded off; it is also rendered with the rectangle being white and the name being the same colors as the glass). They rotate like a revolving door to form the studio's name, upon the formation of which the rectangle fades in behind it and the lights continue to appear behind it.

Trivia: The logo's background was entirely done in live-action, with the glass installed specifically for the logo. A behind-the-scenes featurette can be seen here.

Variants:
 * A print version of the logo exists.
 * A black-and-white version exists.
 * A short version exists for TV shows.
 * Starting in 2020 with the re-release of Total Recall, the byline "A CANAL+ COMPANY" appears underneath the studio name for the first time since the 2000 logo.
 * A seemingly unused package of variations from 2018 omits the mattes on top and bottom of the logo, and has the StudioCanal logo form through its letters as outlines rotating together, which then fill up with white. The result also lacks the rounded rectangle.

FX/SFX: The glass and studio logo forming. A very unique and excellent design done by Devilfish.

Music/Sounds: A strings, woodwind, and mallets-laden composition by Alexandre Desplat, somewhat reminiscent of his score from Girl with a Pearl Earring. On The Fives, it's silent.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * A Portuguese print of Total Recall has the music from the previous logo due to sloppy plastering.
 * On the recent releases of Jean-Luc Godard's A Woman is a Woman as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club, there is an addition of a guitar being played in the composition.
 * The 2018 variations use a different accelerando composition by Desplat. Each variation uses a set of different instruments.

Availability: Current. Seen on releases from the studio such as Non-Stop, Paddington and The Commuter. It is also used as a de-facto home video logo, and appears on many current prints of older titles, for instance, streaming copies of Escape from New York and Carnal Knowledge on Vudu.
 * It's seen at the beginning of every episode of both Wanted: Dead or Alive and The Big Valley on Starz Encore Westerns, but does not appear on Me-TV's airings of the aforementioned show.
 * It also appears at the start of the 3D version of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and also new prints of the first three Rambo movies since 2018, when a 4K restoration from the original negative was released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
 * Also appears on some current French television prints of Regency and Spyglass Entertainment titles (as well as French digital prints of Spyglass titles), such as The Sixth Sense, What Happens in Vegas, Keeping the Faith, Love and Other Drugs and Shanghai Noon, among others.
 * It can also be seen on GKIDS's English dub of The Big Bad Fox and other tales.
 * The 2018 variation package was posted on J.F. Degrevy's Vimeo account on August 9, 2018.

Editor's Note: This is a very neat logo, possibly one of the best made in the 2010s.