MGM Home Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum

Credits
Descriptions by
Jess Williams, Matthew Anscher and Jeffrey Gray

Captures by
wisp2007, Eric S., Logoboy95, V of Doom, Brandondorf9999, Shadeed A. Kelly, EnormousRat, thehugetvfan, Logophile, Dean Stewart Rumsey, Livin', Mr.Logo and indycar

Editions by
Bob Fish, V of Doom, TheMisterFree, Logophile, Jeffrey Gray, FrozenHater (SmoothCriminal12), Mr. Logo Lord, kidinbed, Shadeed A. Kelly, Jonathan Hendricks, CuriousGeoge60, Lizz Tetlow, shnick1985, FilmReel, indycar, Muzzarino, UniversalFlorida1990, KirbyGuy2001 (Logoblin) and Michael Kenchington

Video captures courtesy of
Eric S., 1MisterAaron, Swedishintros, ACDC48086, YarcoTV, winerrs, Muzzarino, VUKS5, LogoLibraryinc, DudeThatLogo, AussieRoadshow, DinoTelevision, Ryan Holman and Brandondorf Raguz

Background

In 1997, the UA name was dropped from MGM/UA Home Entertainment, renaming it to MGM Home Entertainment. The assets of the former Orion Home Video was transferred to MGM itself, as well as picking up the pre-1996 PolyGram film library.

In 2000, following the end of their Warner Home Video deal, MGM began releasing their products internationally through 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, although they reinstated full distribution rights in some regions in 2003.

Following MGM's acquisition by the Sony-led consortium in 2005, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment began distributing the MGM library on home video until May 31, 2006, when MGM shifted most of its home entertainment output to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment for worldwide release (although Sony and Fox traded off releases throughout the rest of the year as part of a transitional period). TCFHE's worldwide distribution deal with MGM continued until June 2020. In the studio's financial report that same year, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was named as MGM's new distributor.

As of late 2022 in the United States, MGM releases are distributed on home media by Studio Distribution Services, with United Artists Releasing titles initially through Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (from Operation Finale to On the Count of Three and the eventual 26th James Bond film) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment for all catalog releases and United Artists Releasing titles since Three Thousand Years of Longing to its end in April 2023, finally unifying all of the MGM catalog titles (along with the legacy UA catalog) under the same roof for the first time in over two decades.

Logo (January 27, 1998-2005 [2009 in Asia])


Visuals: Just the standard 1986 MGM logo of the time, with the only difference being the words "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" in Trajan Pro under the ribbon, sandwiched between two lines.

Variants:

  • On the home video trailer for Species III, "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" and the lines are presented in a more brown-ish color, the text font differs, and the lines are also spaced closer to "HOME ENTERTAINMENT".
  • A superimposed variant of the logo exists. On the demo VHS trailer for Gone with the Wind, the logo is superimposed over a scene from the film with all traces of black removed via chroma-keying, including inside the circle and some of the shadows on Leo's fur.
  • At the end of the animated feature Tom Sawyer, a still image of the MGM logo scrolls up and the text "HOME ENTERTAINMENT" is shown below the logo in a white Roman text. Strangely, the lion is also not in its correct still image.

Technique: Live-action footage.

Audio: The 1995 lion roar.

Availability: Seen primarily on VHS, VCD and later Laserdisc releases.

  • Such examples include 1998-2005 MGM and United Artists releases like Bad Influence, The Thomas Crown Affair, Return to Me, Legally Blonde, Heartbreakers, Jeepers Creepers, the 2002 remake of Rollerball, and all the James Bond films beginning with Tomorrow Never Dies, as well as re-releases of earlier Bond films, including the Special Edition Laserdisc release of The Spy Who Loved Me and the 2000 U.S. VHS release of Never Say Never Again (despite no MGM logo appearing on the packaging).
  • One of the first releases to feature this logo was the 1998 U.S. VHS release of 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (the demo VHS release used the 1990 Orion Home Video logo).
  • This logo also makes a strange appearance on TV spots for the 2001 U.S. DVD release of Platoon.
  • It also does not appear on the 1998 THX remastered Laserdisc release of Singin' in the Rain, despite showing the print logo on the cover.
  • MGM's sale to a Sony-led consortium put an end to this logo in the United States in 2005, with some of the last uses of this logo, like the 3rd logo, being the 2005 U.S. VHS releases of Be Cool, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Hotel Rwanda, and Beauty Shop, respectively.
  • VCD releases released in Asia also continued to use this until 2009, with the home video release of Valkyrie (2008).
  • It is also preserved on the 1999 UK VHS release of The Beatles: Yellow Submarine (1968, 1999 re-release) before the 1994 United Artists logo with the MGM byline.
  • It is also seen on the packaging of the UK 2001 VHS re-release of Spaceballs (1987), however, the actual tape has the 1993 MGM/UA Home Video logo instead.
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