Video Box Office

Background
Video Box Office was a subsidiary of RCA/Columbia Pictures/Hoyts Video Pty. Ltd.

1st Logo (1988-1996)


Visuals: On a black background, several filmstrips roll in from all different sides of the screen, all of them in different colors. When they all interlock with each other, a black clapperboard zooms up. It has black and yellow stripes along the clapper section, along with a chrome outline and the stacked chrome text "VIDEO BOX OFFICE", which has a few still pings. The filmstrips continue to roll until they fade out, where the clapper claps. "THE POWER TO ENTERTAIN" then flips in below in white.

Variant: At the beginning of tapes, the clapper claps a 2nd time, causing the text to change to "COMING SOON".

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: The sound of the filmstrips rolling can be heard when they're onscreen, in which a whoosh and a cymbal crash can be heard when the logo zooms in. A synth drone then plays throughout the rest of the logo, with the sound of a clapper, another whoosh for the text flipping in, and a louder drone at the end. Another clapper sound is heard in the "COMING SOON" variant.

Availability: Seen on old Aussie tapes of the era. Ebay.com.au would be a safe bet. The company mainly distributed B-movies as well as HBO fare. One tape that had this was RoboCop 3.

2nd Logo (1996-1999)


Visuals: On a purple fog background, 4 golden filmstrips fly in from all directions, with clips of movies appearing inside of them. The clapperboard from before, but with the text in a cut-out form, slowly swings in as light emerges from the text. As it rotates towards the screen, the filmstrips fly away and the clapperboard flashes, forming the text in steel blue. Sparkles appear on the text.

Variant: At the beginning of tapes, "Coming Soon" in a plain font slides in letter-by-letter.

Technique: CGI animation.

Audio: A low-pitched whoosh at the beginning is heard, along with several glass sounds. An ambient synth starts to play before one last whoosh plays.

Availability: Seen on Australian prints of Double Team and Very Bad Things.