ABC Motion Pictures

Background

ABC Pictures Corporation was a film production division of the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. The studio's films were distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation. The studio never turned a profit for ABC and was shut down in 1972. Walt Disney Pictures has owned the rights to the studio's library since 1996 when Disney acquired ABC. The home media rights are licensed to Kino Lorber after they were previously released by MGM Home Entertainment, Fox Video and Anchor Bay Entertainment.

ABC Pictures Corporation

(September 23, 1968-February 13, 1972)

Nicknames: "Globes in Space", "ABC Globe"

Logo: We see a picture of a rotating globe on a blue (or pale blue/gray) background. The letter "b" sketches in the center of the globe and the letters "a" and "c" uncover from the left and right of the "b" to form "abc". The globe turns black over the transparent "abc" letters, the words "PICTURES CORP." fade in below the "abc" as the logo moves to the left and a filmstrip with another rotating globe grows out from the right of the logo. The byline "A SUBSIDIARY OF THE AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANIES, INC." fades in below, and the word "PRESENTS" fades in below the filmstrip.

Variant: A rare variant exists where the background is white as the byline in orange, as the "PRESENTS" text in black.

FX/SFX: The rotating globe, the "abc" sketching, the globe turning black and the filmstrip growing out.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the film, or none.

Availability: Was near extinction due to DVD releases from MGM Home Entertainment having ether the 2001 MGM logo (or in some cases, having it blacked out with the opening theme), but is now uncommon. It can be seen on the Magnetic Video Corporation VHS and Kino Lorber DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?, Kotch, The Grissom Gang, Song of Norway, and The Last Valley. Some films such as Straw Dogs (on The Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-Ray release (except the MGM and Anchor Bay Entertainment DVDs) only contains the 1968 Cinerama Releasing Corporation logo. It was also seen on the original Magnetic Video Corporation VHS and Laserdisc of They Shoot Horse's Don't They? (current prints have the ABC Pictures International logo), and the Anchor Bay DVD release and TCM airings of Too Late The Hero (though removed on the MGM DVD).

ABC Pictures International

Background

The previous studio was reorganized as a production company for television and some theatrical films for ABC (although ABC Circle Films did handle the former use for the network).

(1973-1984?)

Nicknames: "Globes in Space II", "ABC Globe II", "Scanimate/3D Globe"

Logo: It's the same as the previous logo, except it's a rotating Earth globe on a zooming space background. The letter "b" sketches in the center of the globe and the letters "a" and "c" uncover from the left and right of the "b" to form "abc". The globe turns black over the white "abc" letters, the words "PICTURES INTERNATIONAL" fade in below the "abc" as the logo moves to the left and a filmstrip with another rotating globe grows out from the right of the logo. The same ABC byline fades in below, and the word "PRESENTS" fades in below the filmstrip.

Variants:

On B&W movie re-releases such as the 1980 Magnetic Video VHS and Betamax prints of Notorious (an RKO Radio Picture that was produced under license from Selznick International Pictures that ABC acquired the rights to in 1965 when they purchased the Selznick library from the David O. Selznick estate), the logo appears in black and white.
On some prints of The Comeback Kid, the regular ABC logo is entirely chyroned over, text and all, by a different black circle with the ABC text on it. You can tell because the logo does not match the film quality and shakes differently. Under it, the chyroned in text "ABC PICTURES INTERNATIONAL" is seen below it. "A Subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc." appears a second later below the text. The logo also freezes at the end. Strangely, some prints of the first season of The Littles also used this logo, as seen on a Junior DHX (WildBrain - Kids Videos) upload of the episode "The Little Winner".

FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo, including the zooming space.

Music/Sounds: An excerpt of "Industrial Power", by Keith Mansfield, being remixed/abridged on later releases. In some cases, none.

Availability: Uncommon. Can be seen on the Kino Lorber DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Midas Run, Jenny, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, the international theatrical version of Nightmare in Badham County, and the Magnetic Video Corporation VHS and Betamax releases of Straw Dogs, Take the Money and Run, Notorious, and various television movies aired on ABC, such as Love Among The Ruins, Griffin and Phoenix: A Love Story, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker among others. Don't expect this logo to appear on Cabaret or Mame, as both of those films use in-credit notices only. It makes a surprise appearance on the trailers for The High Commissioner on the Kino Lorber Blu-Ray and Ben on the Scream Factory release. The black and white version of the logo can be seen on the Mill Creek Entertainment DVD release of The Bat.

ABC Motion Pictures

Background

ABC later returned to film production in May 1979 as ABC Motion Pictures. The studio's films were released by 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation. The studio would close down on October 29, 1985. Disney owns the rights to the library (as would 20th Century Fox in 2019). Disney has licensed the home media rights to Kino Lorber Films, after being previously licensed to Embassy Home Entertainment, Vestron Video, Image Entertainment, Anchor Bay, and MGM Home Entertainment, whose home media releases are distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

(October 29, 1982-June 6, 1986)

Nicknames: "The Crystals", "ABC: The Crystal Shards"

Logo: On a black background, we see some moving shots of sparkling transparent crystals. Then a crystal "T" slowly zooms backwards, and more letters are revealed. Finally, when the words...

ABC

MOTION

PICTURES

all appear in sparkling crystal, the logo stops in the middle of the screen.

Trivia: The logo was designed by Universal Hartland Visual Effects in North Hollywood, which also created special effects work for the original Battlestar Galactica series. According to studio employee Kenneth A. Larson: "The letters were made from highly polished faceted jewel like glass crystal. They were glued to a plate of glass. No one know how to attach them without bubbles showing. A fellow employee came up with a solution and this logo was shot on a Hartland stage".

FX/SFX: The sparkling crystals and company name zooming backward are very nice live-action shots.

Music/Sounds: A lush synth orchestral fanfare with twinkles. Sometimes it is silent. On some co-produced films, a more generic theme was used.

Availability: Rare. Was seen on films produced by the company, such as SpaceCamp, Prizzi's Honor, Young Doctors in Love, and the international cut of The Day After (which was released on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment in the 1980s and laserdisc by Image Entertainment in 1995; the U.S. broadcast print was released by ABC's Summa Video label in 1995). Most releases of their films put out by Embassy Home Entertainment, Vestron Video and Anchor Bay Entertainment have this logo intact, but DVD releases by MGM have it removed and/or plastered with the 2001 MGM logo. This and the 1981 20th Century Fox logos are retained on Kino Lorber's Blu-ray releases of Prizzi's Honor, The Flamingo Kid, National Lampoon's Class Reunion, Impulse, and Young Doctors in Love. This logo was also seen on international prints of some ABC TV movies, including Who Will Love My Children? and The Day After.

Legacy: The absence of the ABC symbol makes this logo the odd one out. It is still a pretty cool logo though.