Lightstorm Entertainment

Background

Lightstorm Entertainment is the production company of writer/producer/director James Cameron, who co-founded it with Threshold Entertainment founder Lawrence Kasanoff.

Contents

1st Logo (1993, 2009)	2nd Logo (1994)	3rd Logo (July 12, 1994-)	4th Logo (December 6, 2022-)

1st Logo (1993, 2009)

Visuals: Scrolling in the credits, we see the letter "A" above a stylized drawing of a man with a bow and a lightning bolt as an arrow. Below it is the company name with "PRODUCTION".

Trivia: The bowman logo appears in the Entourage episode "The Boys are Back in Town", in which a plot point is Emily being hired by Lightstorm.

Variant: A still version of the logo appears on the Nintendo DS port of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game.

Technique: None.

Audio: Just the closing theme of the movie.

Availability: Appears at the end of the "Making of" feature on the Terminator 2: Judgment Day Special Edition laserdisc release.

2nd Logo (1994)

Visuals: On a black background, we see the stylized bowman from the previous logo flash in, now in steel. As the bowman slowly zooms back, the company name flashes in below.

Variant:

A scope version of the logo exists.
On a TV spot, the logo appears next to the 20th Century Fox logo (the next logo debuted on the film proper).

Technique: Simple CGI.

Audio: The opening theme of the trailer.

Availability: Only seen on the trailer for True Lies; it's likely this was just a placeholder logo used for the trailer.

3rd Logo (July 12, 1994-)

Visuals: On a black background, several lasers, lights, and firework-esque explosions shoot upwards toward the camera above a steel structure. The structure zooms back slightly to reveal that it is the stylized bowman from before, then upwards and to the left. It eases out and as it shines, "LIGHTSTORM" flashes below the bowman, and "ENTERTAINMENT" appears below.

Variants:

Sometimes, the logo is still.
There's a short version that features the zoom out of the bowman and the name flashing below.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A quiet but powerful orchestrated fanfare with violin sounds throughout. Near the end of the logo, there is a chime that reverberates for the duration. The music was composed by Brad Fiedel.

Audio Trivia: A portion of the theme shows up in the climax of True Lies (the movie where this logo made its debut, along with the 1994 20th Century Fox logo).

Availability: Seen on True Lies, Strange Days, Solaris and the end of Alita: Battle Angel.

The short version is seen on trailers, including Avatar: The Way of Water (a new logo was introduced on the film proper), and James Cameron's Avatar: The Game.
From unknown reasons it doesn't appear on Titanic and Avatar. Earlier said film uses an in-credit text "A LIGHTSTORM ENTERTAIMENT PRODUCTION".

4th Logo (December 6, 2022-)

Visuals: On a black background, we see a small streak of light pass by, which turns out to be reflecting off the stylized bowman from before as another light illuminates it. We ease out from the bowman where we see the "LIGHTSTORM" flash onscreen in a similar way as the previous logo, along with "ENTERTAINMENT" fading in below.

Variant: On the series adaptation of True Lies, the logo is shortened to the shining and is next to the Flying Glass of Milk Productions logo.

Technique: Improved CGI.

Audio: A short bombastic orchestral fanfare similar in style to the previous logo, composed by Simon Franglen. Otherwise, none.

Availability: Debuted on Avatar: The Way of Water, and later seen on the series adaptation of True Lies.