General Cinema Corporation

Background
General Cinema Corporation was founded in 1935 as a drive-in movie theater by Philip Smith, who previously owned a small chain of silent movie theaters. However, the company didn't see much growth until 1939, due to heavy sales of news printed on film. After the World War II ended, the company got into new leadership under Richard A. Smith, who closed all drive-in theaters in order to make room indoor theaters. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, GCC dabbled in financing movie productions, particularly Night of the Juggler and Foolin' Around, with Gary Busey and Annette O'Toole, which were both distributed theatrically by Columbia Pictures. In April 1992, the company teamed up with Lucasfilm to create mascots for the company. This lead to the creation of the then iconic Candy Band, the band would be followed by two more mascots, Popcorn Bob, and Pepsi Sue. By October 2000, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and then Chapter 7 bankruptcy a year later. This lead to the company being acquired and absorbed by AMC Theaters in March 2002.

1st (known) Open (1967-1984)
Nicknames: "Projector 1.0", "'60s GCC", "GCC Projector", "Kaleidoscopic Projector"

Logo: On a black background is a light blue GCC logo: an abstract projector made out of the letter G, and two C's representing film reels above and below the G to the slightly aligned to the right. A jazzy drumbeat begins and the film reels (the C's) begin to rotate, as the projector begins to spool out a line of dots. A harpsichord riff briefly cuts in, and the word "GENERAL" comes out of the projector, followed by more dots. The musical trade-off repeats two more times, with the words "CINEMA" and "CORPORATION" spooling out of the projector along with the dots. Then, after "CORPORATION," the brushes finally take it home, allowing the projector enough time to spool out the entire line of dots as either "COMING ATTRACTIONS" or "FEATURE PRESENTATION" appear with the final hit of the drum (The C's also stop when this happens).

Variants:
 * 1967-1977: The graphics appeared on a purple or blue background.
 * 1977-1984: The graphics appear on a kaleidoscopic red/purple background (think the Family Affair intro).

FX/SFX: The film reels rotating and the projectors spooling out the dots that morphed into the titles. This snipe was produced by Selame Associates of Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts, while the 1977 revision was produced by Pike Productions of Newport, Rhode Island.

Music/Sounds: A snazzy jazz beat established on a snare drum with brushes, occasionally interrupted on the off-beat by a catchy harpsichord riff. The drums give the feel of the sound a projector makes. A few double bass notes are also heard on the third harpsichord riff.

Availability: Extinct outside of film reels from collectors. It appeared only in General Cinema theaters before the start of a movie or trailers from the late '60s to the early '80s.

Editor's Note: The fanfare of this open would later become popular, so much so that it became a staple for General Cinema.

2nd Open (1984-1986)
Nicknames: “Projector 2.0”, “80s GCC”, “Blue Projector”

Logo: On a background of blue spotlights, we see the GCC Projector logo from the 1st open at the left of the screen. A star traces the logo ending with a star that flashes on the projector-end of the "G". The C's begin to rotate as the G puts out a line with lens flares that travel to the right, culminating in a bright flash of light which brings forth “GENERAL CINEMA THEATRES”. A byline then fades in at the bottom of the screen (centered under the name): “A SUBSIDIARY OF GENERAL CINEMA CORPORATION”. The company name and byline fade out as a star sparkles on the projector and another line and lens flares is projected which flashes into “FEATURE PRESENTATION”. A star appears on the projector for the last time before the C's stop and a lens flare travels across “FEATURE PRESENTATION”.

Variants:
 * There was also a version that replaced “FEATURE PRESENTATION” with “COMING ATTRACTIONS”.
 * On longer films, during the start of a transition from the first to the second part of the film, "INTERMISSION" appeared in place of "FEATURE PRESENTATION".

FX/SFX: The moving background, the shines of the projector, the film reels rotating and the light effects. All in pretty cool cel animation.

Music/Sounds: A funky flute/brass rendition of the first music mixed with a Rhodes piano. Chimes are heard whenever a star shines. Also, like in the first logo, the animation is supported by reverberated percussion that simulates the sound of a projector.

Availability: Less common than the previous open as it only lasted for two years. It was only used in General Cinema theaters back in the mid '80s.

Editor's Note: The animation and lighting effects make up for a suitable successor to the original projector. Too bad it was short-lived.

3rd Open (1986-1993)


Nicknames: “GCC in the Sky”,  Projector 3.0 

Logo: We see some time-lapsed clouds in the sky. A blue/purple circle with the gold/bronze letters “GCC” inside (arranged like the old Projector logo but in a different, more modern typeface) appears in CGI. The screen fades to a starry sky, and the words “General Cinema” appear at the bottom in a gold Century Gothic. The logo and company name fade out to reveal the words “Feature Presentation”.

Variants:
 * Coming Attractions: After a few seconds of black, the General Cinema text appears in the distance and moves towards the top of the screen. The text then moves to the bottom to make room for the GCC circle in darker colors, which zooms away from us to settle above the text. When the circle and text are in place, the circle lights up. After a few seconds, the logo fades out to reveal the text "Coming Attractions" in the center of the screen; the words then move into a left-tilted arrangement, then fly off the screen.
 * Also Showing at This Theatre: The aforementioned words tilt and fly away in a similar fashion to the previous variant.

Trivia: General Cinema made a contest around the time the Space Candy trailer was brand-new, called the "Count the Candy" contest. As the name suggests, moviegoers had to count how many candies appear in the trailer.

FX/SFX: The fading of the GCC circle and text, the clouds, and the fade to the starry sky, all done by Industrial Light & Magic. The daytime sky, which is live-action, was shot from Hawaii, which took the film crew six days just to get right.

Music/Sounds: A short ethereal synth tune that culminates into a 6-note fanfare with timpani drums and a choir, which softens when "Feature Presentation" appears/fades out with the logo.

Music/Sounds Variants: For the "Coming Attractions" variant, it starts out with the drumbeat from the first logo; a low synth chord then starts up, followed by an orchestra hit with warbling synth notes and a bass chord. When the GCC circle lights up, a shorter version of the main logo's 6-note fanfare plays, along with a timpani drumroll. The last note ends with an ascending synth sound as the words tilt, and another orchestra hit as they fly away. For the "Also Showing" variant, it has a similar drumroll and hit to the end of the "Coming Attractions" variant, but in a different pitch.

Availability: Easier to find than the previous open, but only appeared in theaters at that time, unless you have film reels (though there are some accounts that this logo, but with the next logo's "Candy Band" policy trailer instead of this logo's "Space Candy" policy trailer, showed up in some theaters as late as 1995).

Editor's Note: This is a great ident with great VFX work by ILM.

4th Open (1993-1997)
Nicknames: “Searchlights 1.0”, “GCC Moon”, “Moon And Searchlights”, “Moon Of Boredom”

Logo: We zoom out from the ground as streaks of light fly by. We then see a horizon at night, and the light rays are streaking towards a “sun” that rises and splits into three spotlights. The spotlights project the letters “GCC” into the sky, then onto a moon which comes from the top-left. The moon turns into the GCC logo, which slowly rotates to the right, and “General Cinema” appears at the bottom in the same font as the previous logo, followed by “Feature Presentation.”

FX/SFX: The CGI light effects; all the work of Industrial Light and Magic, along with the "Candy Band" policy trailers that were packaged with this opener as well as the next.

Variants:
 * Coming Attractions: Here, it starts with a closeup of the spotlights turning on, and we slowly revolve around them, and as we pan up the beams of light, we see the "GCC" letters shimmering (formed out of light streaks). The lights turn off, and the letters stop shimmering and arrange themselves like before, with the moon sphere fading in behind it, along with the name; after a few seconds, the GCC letters flash, the name and moon disappear, and the GCC letters dissipate and turn into a lot of streaking comets, which turn themselves into the text "Coming Attractions", with lots of stars moving around in the background.
 * Also Showing at This Theatre: Just the comets forming the text.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy synth tune combined with a slight choir, a few backwards-played "whoosh" noises, and a cymbal hit when the searchlights activate, followed by a fanfare with four chime-like sounds when the "GCC" letters are projected, and finally a fast electronic drum beat.

Music/Sounds Variant: For the "Coming Attractions" variant, it has a different arrangement without the electronic drumbeat; a cymbal hit also sounds when the logo flashes, followed by "swirling" sounds and a soft synth chord as the "Coming Attractions" text appears. For the "Also Showing" version, it is just the choir and the "swirling" noises are present.

Availability: Extinct. Only appeared in General Cinema theaters back in the mid '90s.

Editor's Note: A much simpler logo compared to most others, especially by Industrial Light & Magic standards.

5th Open (1997-2002)


Nicknames: "City Searchlights", “Searchlights 2.0”, “Searchlights Redux”

Logo: We fly out from some shrubs on a mountain at night (transitioning out from Popcorn Bob in the preceding "CandyBand" trailer) to see an aerial view of a city very much like LA illuminated with lights. In the center of the city there are some searchlights moving back and forth, at some sort of circular structure, which we fly towards. We pan upwards to see the searchlights merge into a glowing blue, smoky circle over a cloudy night sky. The spotlights fade out leaving a blue circle with the General Cinema logo from before, in white. "General Cinema" fades in underneath in gold for a brief moment, followed the words "Feature Presentation" which are in gold as well.

Trivia: Popcorn Bob, and the rest of the General Cinema mascots were designed by Lucasfilm.

Variant: Coming Attractions: We see Popcorn Bob (the former mascot of General Cinema), standing outside of a General Cinema at night. He looks at his hand clock, and looks around. After he puts his clock away, his girlfriend, Pepsi Sue, walks up next to him. The two walk into the General Cinema, which has "Now Showing! The Candy Band" on the movie sign. The camera zooms in on the General Cinema logo on top of the building. The General Cinema text fade in beneath the logo, while the building fades out, leaving the logo on a starry background. The logo fads out via a glitter effect, and a group of stars come together to form the text "Coming Attractions".

FX/SFX: The searchlights, the flight over the city, and the clouds moving, all very decent CGI from Industrial Light and Magic in what would become their last collaboration with the company. A little bit reminiscent of the Showtime feature presentation bumper from the early '80s.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral piece as we take flight, a whoosh as the smoky circle forms, three timpani hits when the words "Feature Presentation" appear, and a low string/bass clarinet crescendo before the logo fades out.

Music/Sounds Variant: For the Coming Attractions variant, we hear some calming orchestral music, which is a variant of both the 1964 theme, and the 1997 theme.

Availability: Extinct, seeing that it was only used in theaters. This opening was used alongside the "Candy Band" trailers that advertised General Cinema's concession stands.

Editor's Note: A much better effort this time around, being an upgraded version of the previous open, with much better animation and catchier music.

6th Open (2001-2002)
Nicknames: "General Cinema's Goodbye", "The Finale", "Popcorn Bob's Show"

Logo: On a black background, we see the General Cinema logo in silver. The logo starts spinning to the right, and the camera pans down to reveal that the logo is actually a film canister, with another canister underneath it. The canister underneath has movie tickets with the General Cinema logo on them. The tickets spin around to reveal tickets that spell out "General Cinema". The tickets then continue to spin, while the camera pans down to reveal another film canister, this time with small people made out of Twizzlers holding each other, and lifting their legs while moving around in a circle. To the left, Popcorn Bob is walking on a filmstrip while carrying a cane in one hand, and a top hat in the other. We then cut to Bob in front of yet another film canister. He presents all of the dancing concessions on the canister, which consists of candy, pretzels, hot dogs, ice cream bars, and cups with the Coca-Cola script and bottle cap on them. We then cut to a cell phone on the canister moving side to side. The phone starts to ring, causing the concessions to stop dancing, and the canisters to stop moving. Bob then gets angry, looks down at his feet, and notices that the filmstrip he was walking on is coming to a stop. He then jumps to the end of the filmstrip, which causes him to drop the hat and cane. He then takes out a megaphone, and whistles through it. A clapperboard with the General Cinema logo on it pushes it's way through the concessions, and pushes the phone off of the canister. The clapperboard then turns around, to reveal text on it that says "Take 2". It then turns around again to reveal text on it that says "Please shut off all cell phones and pagers". The canister starts to move again, and the concessions start to dance again. Bob then starts to walk the other way on the filmstrip. His hat lands in front of him on the filmstrip. The clapperboard approaches the hat, sniffs it, barks, and jumps behind Bob. Bob slips on the hat, and lands on the filmstrip, causing the clapperboard to fly away, and all of the concessions and canisters to come crashing down. Before falling, one of the canisters reads, "Please throw trash away". Bob and the concessions fall, and they create a pile of concessions and tickets. Bob breaks through the center, and smiles. The clapperboard, which now reads "Enjoy the show!" with the "O" in "show" replaced with the General Cinema logo, falls into Bob's hands. Bob brings the clapperboard close to the screen, and claps it as the screen cuts to black.

Trivia: Because General Cinema switched beverage providers in 2001, Coca-Cola appears in this opening instead of Pepsi.

Variant: An alternate variant had Bob emerging from a rectangular frame made out of the concessions near the end.

FX/SFX: Stop-motion animation with overlaid digital cel animation, produced by Cinema Concepts.

Music/Sounds: A jazzy arrangement of the theme from the 1st opening, combined with the sounds of running filmstrips. The music starts to slow down, and decrease in pitch when the phone start ringing. A whistle is heard when Bob speaks through the megaphone, a growl is heard from the clapperboard when it pushes the phone off, and a high pitched sound is heard when the phone is falling. The music starts to get out of control when everything is falling. Finally, we hear 5 final notes, and a clap from the clapperboard.

Availability: Extinct. This was the final opening General Cinema used before AMC Theaters, Inc. bought the chain after its crippling bankruptcy in 2000. It was also seen on Cinema Concepts' Trailer Park website page until the page shut down. Used in tandem with the previous open around this time.

Editor's Note: While it is not as powerful as the previous open, it is a great end to a company with a long line of memorable opening logos.