Miramax Films

Background
Miramax Films was founded on December 19, 1979 by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who coined the company's name by combining the first names of their parents: their mother Miriam and their father Max. In 1993, Miramax and its newly-created subsidiary Dimension Films were acquired by The Walt Disney Company (however, Miramax would continue to license home video rights to Live Entertainment before founding its own home video division in 1994).

On March 29, 2005, the Weinstein brothers left Miramax (and consequently Disney), taking the Dimension Films label with them and forming The Weinstein Company in October of that year. In January 2010, Disney shut down Miramax's New York and Los Angeles offices and consolidated the studio's operations to Burbank. Disney also reduced Miramax's yearly release schedule from six films to just three. Disney's then-studio chairman Dick Cook intended for Miramax to remain a subsidiary of the company, but following his resignation, his replacement Rich Ross ultimately decided on selling the studio. On December 3, 2010, Disney finalized its sale of Miramax to Filmyard Holdings, LLC, a joint venture between Colony Capital, Tutor-Saliba Corporation, and Qatar Investment Authority. On January 22, 2013, Ron Tutor sold his stake in Miramax to the Qatar Investment Authority. On March 2, 2016, Miramax was sold to beIN Media Group, a spin-off of the Al-Jazeera Media Network's sports assets. From 2011 to 2019, Lionsgate Home Entertainment handled the US home media distribution of the Miramax library, while European home media rights lied with StudioCanal and Japanese home media rights were handled by Warner Home Video from 2012 to 2017. Shortly after its re-merger in December 2019, ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global) acquired a 49% stake in Miramax, with the deal closing on April 3, 2020, putting Miramax's film library under the ownership of Paramount Pictures.

1st Logo (November 1, 1980-February 8, 1988)
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Visuals: On a black background, there is a film strip in the shape of the letter "M". The text "MIRAMAX FILMS" in Optima is next to the "M" with "in association with" above.

Variant: On some films, such as Crossover Dreams, Ghost Fever, and The Quest, the logo is a simple textual graphic reading "A MIRAMAX FILMS Release" in a plain non-serif font.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: None, or the music from any given soundtrack.

Audio Variant: On older prints of the English dub of David the Gnome, the last note of the CINAR logo is heard.

Availability:
 * It was seen on their limited output of this era such as Rockshow and The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, among others.
 * The English-language print of David the Gnome (aka The World of David the Gnome) also had this logo when it aired on Nickelodeon and TLC in the U.S., Family Channel in Canada, and across several other English-speaking territories.
 * However, it is not preserved on DVD releases of the show, likely due to Miramax's rights to the show expiring, but it is still intact on the U.S. Family Home Entertainment and UK Video Collection VHS releases thereof.

2nd Logo (March 27, 1987-December 11, 1998)
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Visuals: Over a black background is the text "MIRAMAX" in the Gill Sans Ultra Bold-like font. Below it is "FILMS", stretched to fit the width of "MIRAMAX", with a line on top and on the bottom of it.

Technique: A still graphic.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the movie or trailer.

Availability:
 * It mainly appears on trailers for some Miramax features and films such as The Unbelievable Truth, My Left Foot (VHS only) and Blue in the Face.
 * It also makes appearances on Clerks and the 2002 restoration of A Hard Day's Night (1964), and a surprise appearance at the start of Serendipity.

3rd Logo (September 11, 1987-October 29, 1999)
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Visuals: An "M" in the same font as before zooms out to the left of the screen and scrolls to the right, revealing "MIRAMA", and when it gets to the end, it disappears in a flash of light, revealing an "X". The word "FILMS" with its usual lines fades in below. A large "M" in black with a glowing corona surrounding it zooms out and borders the logo.

Variants:
 * For a number of years until Disney acquired the company, the word "presents", in script, would appear under the logo.
 * On some films, the "FILMS" text is omitted.
 * On some widescreen versions of the logo, the top and bottom edges of the "Big M" touch the black borders, or are cut off.
 * Sometimes, the logo fades out early while the rest of the music plays.
 * Rarely, the text would be.
 * On Ready to Wear, when the "M" zooms out, the entire logo zooms out even further.
 * On Scandal, the logo is still, except for "presents" fading in.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A calm synth fanfare composed by Jack Maeby.

Audio Variants:
 * On Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting, and the English Canadian VHS release of Gordy, the last two notes of the fanfare are cut off.
 * Sometimes, the music is double pitched.
 * Some films have the opening theme of the film; otherwise, the logo is silent.

Availability:
 * This first appeared on I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, and made its last appearance at the end of Music of the Heart (which uses the next logo below at the beginning).
 * The "presents" variant appears on the Region 1 DVD releases of Strictly Ballroom, Kolya, the Live Entertainment releases of The Crying Game, the VHS releases of The Grifters (but not on the Canadian Cineplex Odeon VHS release, where it's skipped entirely), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, the Canadian VHS release of Prospero's Books, and the Canadian Seville Pictures DVD release of Breaking the Rules (VUDU prints use the M.C.E.G. logo instead, though with Miramax's jingle retained), among others.
 * The version that fades out early appears on Il Postino (The Postman) and Everest.
 * This logo also appears on The Crow: City of Angels, but Dimension distributed the film.
 * It also appears on the U.S. Buena Vista/Lionsgate Blu-ray releases of Sling Blade, Chasing Amy, Life is Beautiful, the Alliance Blu-ray releases of The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, and the Echo Bridge Blu-ray release of Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.
 * It is also intact on the 2002 Pulp Fiction Collector's Edition DVD release, as well as the recent Paramount 4K Blu-Ray release.
 * This also makes a surprise appearance on the U.S. dub of Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra instead of the next logo, and also makes a very strange appearance on an Italian HDTV airing of The Brothers Grimm (instead of the international variant of the next logo).
 * It is also preserved on the 1995 Canadian Alliance Video VHS release of Gordy.

4th Logo (December 11, 1998-November 28, 2008)
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Visuals: The screen zooms down a river, and pan up to see the skyline of Manhattan, New York, at sundown. As the sun sets, the lights in the building windows begin to turn on, just like in real life. As the screen zooms in closer to the buildings, several lights begin forming the company's print logo, simply in white (no glowy effects like last time). The city skyline fades to black as the logo forms, piece by piece, while zooming towards the center of the screen. The end result is similar to the 2nd logo.

Alternate Descriptive Video Transcription: The camera glides across the water before panning up to see a moonlit shot of the Manhattan skyline with the lights turning on. Fading to black, up comes the white lettering: Miramax Films.

Trivia:
 * If one looks closely, the World Trade Center can possibly be seen. This was animated three years before the original World Trade Center was destroyed in the attacks of September 11, 2001. On recent films shot on digital, the right tower is removed and the left one is placed to the edge of the city skyline.
 * The logo appears to be shot at the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, facing towards Times Square.
 * One Astor Plaza, the headquarters of Miramax's future owner ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global), could be also seen to the left of the skyline.

Variants:
 * From 1998 until 2004, the logo was shot on 35mm film. In the logo's final years from 2005 to 2008, it was shot on digital.
 * When the logo debuted and during the logo's first official year (1999), the words "20TH ANNIVERSARY" appear above.
 * A prototype variant of the "20TH ANNIVERSARY" logo exists, where the top text is in, white or , depending on the film quality.
 * Another variant of the "20TH ANNIVERSARY" version also exists, where the text is smaller.
 * A 1.78:1 open-matte version exists, where the landscape is zoomed out much farther back. This version appears on the Miramax DVD release of Three Colors: Blue, and on some films released between 2007 and 2008.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Usually silent, or the opening theme of the film.

Audio Variants:
 * Some films have a pleasant orchestrated piece with a few instruments in the selection.
 * On early films with this logo such as Children of Heaven and pre-1998 films such as The Harmonists and Mouth to Mouth, the previous logo's theme is used.
 * Older HDTV airings and the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray release of the English dub of Shaolin Soccer use the shortened theme from the next logo, possibly due to a botched plaster job.

Availability: Appears on releases from 1998 to 2008, and was the norm for plastering the previous logo, but is replaced with the next logo on most newer prints of Miramax's film library.
 * This logo first appeared on Shakespeare in Love, and made its final theatrical appearance on The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
 * When Confessions of a Dangerous Mind airs on Starz/Encore, the standard-definition version retains this logo, but the high-definition airings of the film use the next logo below instead.
 * Despite plastering from the following logo, it still appears on U.S. prints of The Talented Mr. Ripley, There Will Be Blood, and YouTube prints of The Aviator (2004) and Underclassman.
 * This also might have appeared on some international prints of the 2002 French/Italian co-production, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (which includes Miramax's English dub), or the Buena Vista International logo, as Disney owned Miramax at the time.
 * The previous logo appears on DVD releases and TV airings of the films for unknown reasons.

5th Logo (December 25, 2008-July 6, 2018)
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Visuals: It's the same concept as the previous logo, but instead of the skyline, the screen pans up to see the Brooklyn Bridge at sundown. As the sun sets, the screen zooms toward the buildings until we finally get to the skyline of Manhattan. One difference between the skylines is that the original World Trade Center buildings are absent. After we get to the city, the lights in the building windows begin to turn on. As the screen zooms slowly to the skyline, several lights begin forming the logo like before as we then fade to black, piece by piece.

Variants:
 * A prototype variant exists where there is added motion blur, there is a timelapse effect in the clouds, a boat is floating in the water, the buildings' lights turn off slower and the dark yellow sky at the end does not fade out. It's overall a much more detailed version of the logo.
 * Since 2010, most films only show the last half of the logo.
 * Starting in 2011, the word "FILMS" is omitted. Both of these versions (particularly the latter) plaster over older Miramax logos on new releases of their films.
 * Starting in 2016, a registered trademark ("®") symbol appears next to the wordmark.
 * On recent prints of My Life So Far (1999), this plastered the “20th Anniversary” variant of the previous logo, but for some reason, they keep the “20th Anniversary” text.
 * The closing version has just the logo and the city skyline.

Technique: A hybrid of live-action and CGI effects, made by Studio Nos.

Audio: Usually, a soft piano/string tune with coastal and city noises, which was composed by Brian Lapin, Leslie Shatz and Scott Warren.

Audio Variants:
 * On some recent prints of their 1987-98 films, such as Pulp Fiction and Il Postino (The Postman), it uses the 1987 theme.
 * On Starz’s prints of 40 Days and 40 Nights, the 1997 Universal Pictures theme is used, due to the editors using the audio from an international master.
 * Sometimes, it is silent or has the opening theme of the movie.

Availability:
 * It first appeared on Doubt, and made its final appearance on Whitney.
 * It also plasters older Miramax logos on recent prints of films.
 * Strangely, it also appears before the 1990 variant of the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo on Runaway Brain when it was a digital-exclusive extra on Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection.
 * It also appeared on a recent Cinemax broadcast of Tombstone, a Hollywood Pictures film.
 * Until Lionsgate and Echo Bridge assumed the home media rights to the Miramax catalog, this was used as a de-facto home video logo.

Legacy: This logo is a favorite of many people for its animation and music.

6th Logo (September 8, 2018-January 4, 2023)
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Visuals: There are three sets of light rings (a la the 3rd logo; two of the "R", and one of the first "M", with the "I" partially visible) at night in the Hudson Valley, soon followed by the company name, spread out, slowly coming together to form the logo, illuminating a city (possibly a bird's-eye view of New York) below. The respective byline fades in.

Bylines:
 * 2018-2020: "A beIN MEDIA GROUP COMPANY" (in variations of the Avenir font) underneath the "MAX" text.
 * 2020-2022: "A beIN MEDIA GROUP AND VIACOMCBS COMPANY", with "VIACOMCBS" being the corporate logo, centered underneath the logo.
 * 2022-2023: "A beIN MEDIA GROUP & PARAMOUNT COMPANY" in the Peak Sans font; it is still centered underneath the logo but is far bigger than the previous byline.

Variant: A shorter version exists, which skips the first pan across the "R".

Technique: CGI animated by MOCEAN.

Audio: A somber four-note theme (composed by Eric Avery).

Audio Variant: Sometimes, the film's opening theme is heard instead.

Availability:
 * It first appeared on the final trailer for Halloween (2018) and debuted on the film itself.
 * The beIN/ViacomCBS byline appears on international prints of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, preceding the STXfilms logo (American prints have the next logo). This is because the film was originally going to be released in 2022 but was delayed a year later.
 * It also appears on The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man and the 4K remasters of Scream (1996), Scream 2 and Pulp Fiction (all released in 4K in 2022)
 * The shorter version first appeared on The Perfection, and it will most likely only appear on non-theatrically released films and Miramax Television shows. It also appears at the beginning of Miramax's YouTube videos.
 * The BeIN Media Group/Paramount byline debuted on the TV section of the company's website, then made its first appearance on Confess, Fletch and later appeared on Halloween Ends.

7th Logo (January 13, 2023-)
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Visuals: Over a black background, the logo starts with the text "MIRAMAX" (in its usual typeface and sporting a slight cream color) tilted at an angle and slowly zooming in as it tilts to the right. A city skyline with lights (almost like the one from the previous logo) pans up from below. Once the text is finished straightening itself and zooming in, a 3-D shadow appears beneath it (giving it a retro 3-D text effect), as the byline "a beIN MEDIA GROUP & PARAMOUNT COMPANY" (in an unknown font) fades in below the text. The logo then fades out to black.

Trivia:
 * Unlike the previous logos, this one takes place in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, as the foreground of Hollywood sign can be seen towards the start.
 * This logo was partially designed by Nate Carlson, who created retro-style logo variants for Miramax and Focus Features for use in the movie The Holdovers. Miramax loved his work so much that they requested to use his design in another logo for use in their other films.

Variants:
 * A 2.39:1 scope version exists, where the Hollywood sign is not shown.
 * On the trailer for The Beekeeper, this and the 2021 MGM logo before have bees buzzing around them.

Technique: 2D and 3D computer animation.

Audio: An 80s-like electronic synth theme with a piano.

Audio Variant: Sometimes, it is silent or has the opening theme of the movie.

Availability:
 * Made its first appearance on Sick, and also appears on U.S. prints of Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (preceding the Lionsgate Films logo; international prints use the previous logo with the beIN/ViacomCBS byline) and Old Dads.
 * The logo with the fanfare made its debut on The Beekeeper.